RWBY: The Endless Journey
by dudewuttheheck
Summary: Post Season 3 Story: Beacon has fallen. War is coming. Teammates and friends are dead, wounded, or missing. Team RNJR begin their perilous journey to Haven in an attempt to find a way to prevent the destruction facing their world. RenxNora BlakexYang
1. Chapter 1

Welcome all to my version of a post RWBY: Volume 3 Story! This will attempt to remain OC free for as long as possible. My goal with this is to give my ideas of what Volume 4 and beyond could be/have been like. It is intended to be as close to what the actual future of the show could be told through the hands of a person who is a sucker for romance and very dark, painful situations. I'll admit, it will probably be a bit more Romance based than the actual show, but hey, I'm a sucker for that stuff. The ships I have lined up are Renora and Bumblebee. I honestly have no idea what will happen with Ruby, Jaune, or anyone else at this point, but I am guessing other ships will happen at some point.

It will still mostly focus on the story and what Team RNJR, the rest of Team RWBY, Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, Adam, Salem are up to. Of course, the Beacon teachers, Qrow, and others like Teams SSSN and CFVY will be included. I will say this right now- Pyrrha is NOT coming back to life in this story, though she may make appearances in other ways. Penny is also not coming back. This story WILL get dark, romancy, and fluffy as well. Of course all comments, criticisms, questions, etc are all welcome! Enough yammering. Enjoy!

Chapter 1:

The leaves of Forever Fall were covered with snow. Their crunch was completely muffled by the thick layer of powdery white cloud that sat like a soft, comforting blanket that the world so desperately needed. The air was cold, however and the four young huntsmen and huntresses in training were beginning to feel the ill effects of the weather as they trudged through the seemingly endless forest. They had barely spoken for the past few days. It seemed better that way. It had been only a couple of weeks since they began their perilous quest from Patch to Haven.

The wounds that their hearts and minds had suffered were still quite fresh. The months that had passed had only allowed them to fester and become gangrenous, feasting on their souls. None of them felt like themselves anymore, but that was probably because none of them were quite the same people they had been before the Battle of Beacon had occurred. Most would not have been able to bear the burdens that were forced upon them and indeed many of their closest friends and teammates did not. Some had fled in fear, others chose passivity, and still others had become bitter and depressed.

These four, however, had chosen to take action. They knew no other way. They were all well aware that wallowing in their sorrows would only cause them more harm and it would certainly solve none of the deadly threats that were beginning to cover Remnant. It would not bring justice to those who deserved it. Only action would.

The initial journey across Patch was quite easy, but the trip to Vale in Taiyang's old boat had been perilous and the walk through the forest had only gotten colder and more depressing as it went on. It did not help that they had already gone through more of their food supply than they should have and they were annoyed that their unsolicited help was doing nothing to actually assist them.

"He's still there, isn't he?" Asked Jaune Arc bitterly. The tall, blonde haired boy was leading the group at this point due to his superior combination of height and strength compared to the rest of the group. The strain of trudging through 4 feet of snow for mile after mile was beginning to show and Jaune feared he would have to return point duty to Ren or Nora again shortly. As he looked back, however, he noticed that neither of them appeared to be up to the task at this point. Nora, however, did at least have the strength to answer her teammate.

"Yeah, he's there." She replied, looking over her left shoulder. He's not very stealthy, is he?" The short, but horrendously powerful red head was struggling through the snow, despite her strength. The cold was beginning to get to her more than any of the others. Her sleeveless dress and relatively short skirt were far too cold for this sort of weather, especially while exerting herself so much.

"Changing into a human to take a drink was not smart if he was attempting to go unnoticed" added Lie Ren categorically. The slim, black haired boy was stumbling forward as steadily as his poor endurance would allow. He had actually been at the back of the group for a fair portion of their journey, though he had taken point duty at times in an attempt to prevent their youngest member from having to endure that strain.

Ruby Rose took another glance back at her uncle's bird form before looking forward again. This journey had been most difficult on her so far. At 5ft2, she was nearly as short as Nora, but had almost none of the pink-clad girl's strength. She also was more upset than anyone else about the fact that her drunk of an uncle had been following them all on the journey that he had tipped them off about, been clumsy enough to reveal himself, and then not bothered to help them through any of their perils. They had already been forced to beat off several Grimm attacks.

At the front, Jaune took a more positive approach to their stalker situation.

"I think he's more tired than drunk." He replied while pushing through the thick, cold powder. "I've seen him a few times at night. He never sleeps. I think he's trying to make sure Grimm or anything else don't try to ambush us at night."

"A fat lot of good that's doing us." Snorted Ruby angrily. Jaune decided not to answer her. He did not like the fact that the person who had proposed this perilous journey had been so discouraged so quickly. He hoped it was mostly due to her anger at her uncle, rather than at the difficulty they were facing, though he suspected that it was a combination of both.

Personally, he did not mind being followed by a master huntsman, even an inebriated one. As the least skilled fighter of the group, it felt nice to have such a capable warrior close by, even if he was doing nothing to help speed up the actual hike itself. He was hoping that Ruby's positivity would soon return, but that did not seem likely. Even Nora was decidedly reserved. While the group had successfully avoided Vale, they had not been able to miss the sight of the enormous frozen dragon on top of Beacon Tower. This, along with the massive snow storm that immediately followed had placed a thick, cold cloak of discouragement and negativity over them that had not lifted since it had started. The only bright spot was the fact that they had not had to fight off very many Grimm and that nobody other than Qrow appeared to be after them.

"It's getting late. We should probably make camp" suggested Ren, the most exhausted of the four.

"Good idea. This looks like a good spot." Said Jaune, pointing to a nice little clearing just a few feet away. He was more than happy to rest after leading the group through the snow for so long. "Ruby, could we get some wood for a fire?"

"Yeah, yeah" replied Ruby in an annoyed, tired voice. She walked over to the closest tree and cut clean through several of the branches with Crescent Rose. Jaune and Nora followed her over and brought the branches back to where they had chosen to sit while Ren started the fire with some small twigs and matches. They all sat down close to the fire and did not speak for quite some time, there were no words of thanks or encouragement to be shared.

Of course, their less-than-chipper moods were due to far more than the actual challenge of the trip they were making, which was daunting enough. It was perhaps most difficult for Ruby. Jaune still spent many nights crying over Pyrrha's death, but he was remorseful over the life and relationship that could have been rather than a deep, long-lasting bond that had already existed. At least he had something specifically driving him: revenge. The ones responsible for Pyrrha's death were going to pay for what they did and he was going to make sure of it.

It was different for Ruby. Jaune had something to fight for and most of his team with him. The hooded girl appreciated her friends' commitment to come with her- it was all she had right now, but this was not her true team. As horrible as it made her feel, Ruby often stayed awake at night thinking about how the remainder of team JNPR had it easier because their missing teammate had gone out fighting. She had given her life to protect her team and everyone in Remnant.

Her team? They had chosen not to come on this journey. They had all abandoned her, even her sister. Weiss was taken home to Atlas by her father, but she could have fought back. If she really cared about her partner and her team she would have at least put up some effort to assist them rather than run home to safety back in the giant mansion she probably lived in. By all accounts, however, she had gone willingly. So much for becoming something other than a selfish, spoiled brat.

Blake was even worse. She specifically chose to run away, leaving her teammates to suffer, leaving Yang to suffer the wounds that she had a hand in causing. Ruby probably would not have blamed her if she had stayed. She knew deep down that it was not her fault that Yang had lost her arm, but the fact that it was destroyed at least partly because of Blake who then left right after it happened without even apologizing or doing anything to comfort her former partner? That betrayal was too much for Ruby to be able to forgive at that moment.

Yang was an interesting case. Ruby had a much more difficult time blaming her sister for her decision not to come on the journey. She had been left by her partner with a missing limb and no easy way to get a mechanical replacement any time soon. Even so, she had never been so cold and distant with her younger sister before. 2 months passed with barely an interaction. No matter how sad she was, Yang was not the type of person to give up on life in such a way, Ruby thought sadly. Even in her broken state, the real Yang would be there to support her sister no matter what, especially when she needed it most…

Despite all of these depressing thoughts constantly swarming through her head, Ruby knew that she could not dwell on what was wrong with her life as she sat next to the fire attempting to stay warm against the biting evening air. She was at least grateful for the friends that had come with her on such a dangerous journey. All four of their group had been walking for hours and sitting, even in cold snow with a barely flickering campfire was a welcome respite despite the fact that it could attract unwanted people or Grimm.

They were using this time to try to formulate a route that they would take once they made their way out of Forever Fall. Their scrolls had been guiding them through the massive forest to the one road that lead in the direction that they wanted to go in. Of course, there were several problems that presented themselves with undeniable force. First off, their scrolls would only stay charged for so long. Even if they had endless energy, most of the land outside of Vale was still uncharted, especially on their scroll technology so they would have been of no help at that point anyway.

They sat discouraged in silence, racking their brains for even the smallest of solutions to their long list of problems. The march through the forest was supposed to be easy, and yet they were struggling to even successfully accomplish that. They still had to make it across the rest of the continent filled with Grimm, cross a massive sea which they had no idea how to get across, travel over another continent to a foreign kingdom attempting to discover information about an enemy they knew was far more powerful than they were.

After half an hour of silent thought, Nora finally had the courage to speak up.

"I don't think we'll be able to figure out a plan. We may just have to wing it."

"If only we had a map or something" Replied Ruby forlornly.

"Idiot!" Exclaimed Jaune angrily."We do have one! I left Oobleck's stupid history book in my bag and it's still there. I'll bet there's tons of maps and information about where we're going!" He scrambled over and to his bag and wrenched it open aggressively, pulling out a book which appeared to be untouched. Ren, who was rather interested in maps and history, took it and began skimming it in earnest. The other three quickly crowded around him, hoping he would find something useful.

Indeed he did. After skipping to the latter part of the book, he found several detailed maps of Remnant, including exactly what they were looking for- a map of the area to the north and east of Vale. Best of all, the map was part of a chapter on recent history and was dated to just two years previously. Jaune, Nora, and Ruby began to cheer loudly. Even Ren smiled, but he quickly cautioned them.

"Calm down, everyone. I still have to look this over and analyze any text that describes the area." The others sighed with annoyance, but after a short wait, he finished with a smile on his face.

"I think I can still learn more from this, but there is a road that appears to be safe to use. It has historically been free of Grimm attacks and takes us to the best port town that we could hope for. The only issue is that it is slightly out of the way to the north and we will have to use the dangerous main road for a while to arrive there safely."

"Sounds good to me!" Replied Nora excitedly. "Where's the fun without a little danger?" Her spirit had returned slightly, as had everyone else's. With even a vague outline of a plan in hand, they were able to sleep soundly that night, despite the extreme cold. The journey was beginning to look up for them, if only slightly. They were reaching the end of Forever Fall which means they would soon be clear of Vale, they had a plan in mind, and a first destination to aim for. It was time for their journey to truly begin.


	2. Chapter 2

"Stop pacing like that. You're making me nervous."

"She hasn't moved in days! You should be nervous, too."

"She's breathing, isn't she? Stop being such a drama queen, Emerald."

The girl called Emerald paused her pacing for a moment to give the person talking to her a disgusted look.

"Mercury. Shut. Up. Just because you never care about anything at all doesn't mean you can-"

"I do care." Interrupted Mercury nonchalantly. "I just prefer to deal with problems like this in a more calm and intellectual manner."

Emerald rounded on him, walking toward him and angrily pointing at the unconscious woman on the ground in the corner of the apartment.

"So this is just a 'problem' to you? You don't actually care about her at all?"

Mercury turned around back to facing the window that he was looking out of earlier before he answered.

"I do." He responded with only minor concern. "But I have other worries on my mind. If she doesn't wake up, our lives become a lot more difficult."

Emerald looked for a moment as though she was about to begin shouting at him, but then merely sauntered over to Cinder's unconscious body to look after her, knowing that unfortunately, Mercury was quite right. Emerald herself had to admit that her compassion for her leader was not the only reason she was so desperate for her to wake up. She felt alone at that moment. Her best friend and mentor lay on the ground in an unbreakable sleep and if she never woke up, Emerald would be fighting for her life alongside Mercury, a person she still did not fully trust and doubted would stick with her if things went south.

"So" she began hesitantly "what's the plan then? If you're so calm about this, I'm assuming you have a way out of this for us?"

He continued to stare out into the dusky evening sky as if her question was of no importance. Still, he decided to answer her, but did so without paying her any attention.

"I have a plan for ME. I'm still struggling to decide what you bring to the table."

He heard her let go a gasp and he smiled to himself before turning around to comfort her. He was testing her, making sure that she was still as desperately reliant on others as he believed she always had been. In fact, she seemed even more in need of assurance than before. This played perfectly into his hand, but he wasn't about to let her know that just yet.

"I'm kidding! Calm down. I got a way out for us if things go south, but what I'm trying to do is think of a way for it not to come to that point and that's where I'm stuck. Maybe we can think of something together?"

"OK, sure" responded Emerald, failing to hide how relieved she was. She and Mercury walked over to the small table in the corner of the room opposite of their injured leader.

"The thing is" began Mercury, leaning forward over the table , exaggerating his actual interest in order to placate Emerald "We wouldn't have much of a problem getting out of here if it was just the two of us. Dragging her around is the real issue."

"Yeah, I see what you mean. We wouldn't exactly be quick with her as baggage."

"Exactly. That leaves us with three options. The first one is we just leave her here. Hey, hey, I don't think that's the best option either" he continued, responding to the look on his colleague's face. "The other two options are the ones we have to decide between. We either try to bring her out of Vale and find help for her outside its walls, or we keep her here and take turns venturing out alone to find a way to fix her."

"I don't really like either of those plans" Said Emerald, disappointed. "We're way too vulnerable either way."

"We are, so we need to decide between them both based on how they are actually different."

"What do you mean?"

"If we stay here, it will be difficult to get any sort of assistance for her because everyone in Vale now knows who we are and what we did and it will be risky for us to venture out alone. If we try to leave, getting out will be almost impossible, and there will be a lot more Grimm once we get out of the city as well."

"So, what exactly is the benefit of leaving at all?" asked Emerald, annoyed that he even suggested the idea.

"I may know someone who could help her outside the Kingdom. I have no such contacts here" he responded. "I haven't spoken to him in years, though, so finding him will be another problem."

Emerald had heard enough. She had made up her mind fairly easily.

"I think we need to stay here. It's relatively safer, plus I might actually be able to steal some meds in the safe zone using my semblance., though I don't know what she would actually need. We've been struggling for so long just to get her stable and get away from the Grimm, I hadn't given time to think of what would actually wake her up."

"Neither have I. You may as well just get as much of everything as you can and we'll try to make it work. Who knows, maybe we'll feed her some dust. I've heard stories that certain types can help the sick, depending on what's wrong with them." He was actually impressed at Emerald's logic of being able to use her semblance as a reason to stay in the Kingdom. Even he hadn't thought of that before. "We'll stay then." He got up out of the chair and walked toward the door. "You stand guard here first. I'm going to go see if I can find where you to get us some food and whatever it is that could help her."

Emerald nodded as he left. She was relieved that he had listened to her, but she still felt quite uneasy about all of this. What would she actually be able to steal that could help Cinder? She doubted even the heads of the schools knew how to deal with anything like this.

A sense of hopelessness that she had felt only far too often lately ran down her spine again, making her cringe. Despite her care for her boss, she was beginning to regret getting involved in all of this. She was frightened. It had been years since she had felt this alone. Yet, despite Emerald's desperation, there were 3 other young women in Remnant even more isolated from the world than she was.

Blake Belladona was one of them. As she jumped from rooftop to rooftop in the Grimm-infested abandoned sector of Vale, the main thought in her mind was how furious she was with herself for everything that she had allowed to happen. She could only imagine how apocalyptically mad her former teammates were with her. Turning and running had already become her trademark, but this time, she had really done it. Leaving at a time when her teammates were in their greatest time of need meant they would never accept her back.

However, the one shred of comfort that Blake took out of this was the fact that she believed that for once in her life, she was running away for the right reasons. For the first time, she ran despite the fact that she really did not want to. As she looked out once again at the frozen Grimm dragon on top of Beacon Tower, she remembered that she brought only pain and suffering wherever she went. Her team was better off without her.

The same could not be said for her, however. She had not been truly been on her own since she was a child. As she climbed down from the rooftop into yet another abandoned apartment building, regret met her once again with full force, triggered by the barren emptiness of the room she had just entered. She had run to save Yang and her teammates, but there was nowhere for her to go. Forced to wander from building to empty building in the desolate, Grimm infested part of the Kingdom, she wondered why all of this had to happen.

The past year had been the happiest of Blake's life. Her teammates loved and respected her, even if they did not get along perfectly at first. In fact, they had loved her despite her faults and attempts to put a wall up between them and herself. They had broken it down and welcomed her into a new world of friendship and loyalty. Together, they had accomplished so much. They had thwarted evil plots, become better huntresses, and even made it deep into the Vytal Festival Tournament. At that time, Blake felt that she was finally making up for all the despair and discord she had wrought upon the world before. Of course, it was all too plain to her now that she could never undo it. Evil followed her wherever she went. _He_ followed her wherever she went.

She fell down onto the bed, looking up at the plain white ceiling, wondering how long it would be until he found her. With loneliness and regret beginning to envelope her further, she hoped that at the very least it would be quick and painless, though she doubted it would be so. Nothing ever was with him.

She had spent most of the past couple of months trying to escape the Grimm while tracking down the White Fang, but every shred of a lead she could think of lead to nothing save the occasional pack of Grimm. At this point, she had decided that they had all pulled out of Vale for the time being possibly to regroup or to focus on incensing the other kingdoms against Atlas. She had been running for 2 months straight, but now there was nowhere to actually run to that she had not already been.

In fact, Blake was beginning to wonder if she should take the risk and track down one of the White Fang hideouts outside the kingdom, despite the obvious level of danger that idea posed. She went back and forth on this issue for at least an hour, staring up at the ceiling in deep thought. Finally, as night descended on Vale, she stood up, deciding that she would take one last look at one of the known meeting places in the Kingdom before leaving.

She climbed out of the window skillfully and silently, making it onto the roof with little effort. It was beautifully brisk outside, just cool and breezy enough to make her feel a little more alive. Making her way to the southern port sector of the Kingdom, she had only crossed a few buildings when she looked down and noticed a lone figure walking silently, close to one of the buildings on the opposite side of the street. It was clear that he was not dressed in White Fang attire, but it was a few seconds before she recognized the unique grey hair and jacket.


	3. Chapter 3

It did not seem like Weiss would be going on any adventures for quite a while. The Schnee complex was on full lockdown and had already been attacked twice by angry Faunus. Weiss and her mother were not allowed outside at all. Even their strict patriarch rarely ventured out and his absences were only due to the the most important of business meetings. The rest of the time he conducted his work from home, making things even more uncomfortable for his youngest daughter. The only person that was not home was the one family member that Weiss really wanted to see: her sister Winter. Spending most of the past couple of months locked away in her room, she craved her sister's company more than ever, but not just for the companionship.

She had gone completely stir crazy after only a few days. Her father and her had already faced off in two quite intense shouting matches when Weiss demanded to know why he thought it was OK to take her away from her team. She felt she was making good points, but when he threatened to have her weapon locked away and disallow any contact with her sister on the off chance she did actually visit home, she was forced to give up and had resorted to practicing her fighting and glyph skills with Myrtenaster.

She felt horrible leaving her teammates behind, but she consoled herself slightly with the thought that it was not her fault for the first few days. However, the guilt was too much for her to bear and was quickly eating her up inside. She wanted to do something to help them, but she knew there was nothing she could do; not without Winter's help.

Her practice had been getting steadily poorer since she arrived home. Her glyphs had become sub-par and she was not able to summon anything at all. She was nervous. Very nervous. A plan had been formed, but it was incredibly dangerous and it hinged completely on Winter's willingness to help, which Weiss calculated at having only a 35% chance of being possible. After that, her plan itself had what was only a 20% chance of actually working and the other 80% ended with death or imprisonment followed by death.

Her mind was made up, however. Something had changed about her since she had arrived home. She was done shirking off responsibility. The only people who had ever accepted her for her, flaws and all; the only people who had truly supported her and helped her to become a better person were in trouble. She was done listening to her father's twisted rules and selfish morals. She had gone to Beacon to become better than her family name and attempt to make right their wrongs and so far she had failed miserably. It was time for her change that.

The one shred of good news was that Winter was due home that day for a short respite from duty and Weiss had not argued with her father in days, so she hoped for a chance to speak with her sister alone and confide to her the plan. She was so on edge that when the main door was opened, she nearly fell over during one of her exercises.

Weiss stood up and walked over to put her ear against the door. She could just barely make out that it was Winter's voice weaving in and out of her father's words.

"Yes!" she exclaimed quietly to herself. As much as she wanted to run down immediately and drag her sister up to the room to talk, she thought better of it. That would look suspicious and her father already trusted her less than usual. She bided her time. Too impatient to practice anymore, she went back and forth between pacing her room and sitting uncomfortably on the bed, going through her plan in her head.

After an annoyingly long time, she heard a knock at the door and she answered trying not to sound too excited.

"Yes?"

"Weiss, it is your sister. Open the door. I wish to speak with you."

"Coming!" Weiss sprinted over to the door and wrenched it open.

"It's so good to see you Winter!" she exclaimed before closing the door behind them both.

"Likewise. I am glad to see that you are OK and that Father has brought you home safely." She looked concerned, however.

"It was quite scary. I was very fortunate to escape unharmed." They were both speaking quite formally, Winter because she always spoke in such a manner, and Weiss because she was worried her father was listening. She looked over to her bed in the corner of the room, urging her sister to walk over with her. Winter took the hint easily and they began to whisper urgently in hushed voices as they sat down on the bed.

"I am sorry to hear about what happened to your friends, Weiss" said Winter, hugging her sister tightly. "But I am so glad to see you home safe."

"I'm fine, Winter" Weiss responded appreciatively "but what the heck is going on out there? I've been stuck in here for months and have had no news of what's happened to Vale!"

"Vale is doing fine, given the circumstances. They have controlled part of the city and that dragon thing is still frozen from your friend Ruby's _magic_. I don't know any more details about your friends." She said sympathetically, noticing the anxious look on her sister's face. "What you should be worried about is Atlas. A large amount of our military force was destroyed in the Battle of Beacon, Mystral and Vacuo are massing their forces in preparation for war with us, and the White Fang have been initiating riots and killing off military personnel."

"I'm not worried about Atlas!" Replied Weiss in a severely annoyed voice. "I'm worried about my friends."

"Weiss, there is nothing you can do for them now. The best course of action is to sit tight and-"

"Sit tight?! How can I do that to my friends?!" Her voice was beginning to reach above whisper levels in volume. In terms of intensity however, she was positively screaming her head off." You told me yourself that you were proud of me for following my own path and ignoring what Father wanted. I'm sick of him, his company, and all of the horrible characteristics that he's passed on and indoctrinated into me that made me think for one second that it was OK for me to come back here. My team needs me and I'm going to help them no matter what it takes."

The shock on Winter's face was more than obvious.

"There is no way you will be able to get to Vale! It's suicide. There are 50 guards standing right outside this compound, there are trackers on every mode of transportation in the kingdom, the ports are off limits, and even with our forces depleted, we are still the world's strongest military power."

"I know all that" replied Weiss, insulted that her sister believed she could be so naïve. I have a plan. You can help me if you want, but even if you don't, I'm going through with it anyway even though I know it won't work that way. If you want your sister to have any chance of living, you'll help me." She said the last sentence staring menacingly into her sister's dark blue eyes. Winter was taken aback even more than before. She took several long moments to collect herself in deep thought, but eventually attempted a smile.

"I… I've always admired you Weiss. I have followed Father's and Atlas' rules and laws ever since I was a child and have never once strayed from the path. I have been the perfect model citizen that nearly all Atlas dwellers strive to become. I have never admitted this to anyone before, but I will say that there have been times when I have thought that those rules and the actions they caused me to take may be wrong, but… I have never been brave enough to fight back or say anything. I am weak. A coward. But you; you have always been the rebel in the family. Always arguing with Father, asking so many questions about Atlas rules, getting your scar… Yes, in general, you and I do not appear too different, but when you know someone as long as we have known each other, it isn't hard to see that your path has always lead away from here.

I noticed this years ago and the proudest moment of my life was not when I was promoted to Specialist, but when you went off to Beacon." She smiled, almost laughing. "I honestly believe the only reason Father let you go was because he didn't believe that you would last more than a week there! I knew better, though. He believed you went to provoke him and were simply going through a rebellious phase. He was wrong. You did not go because you were young and full of angst, you left because deep down you knew there was something wrong with the way of life you came from, something wrong with you. I have never been so courageous. I should have set a better example." She pulled her younger sister in for the tightest, most sincere embrace she had ever given. They broke apart after a minute and after wiping a tear away, Winter continued.

"This courage, this bravery, this love and devotion for your friends that you have found is inspiring. Thanks to you, I am going to do what I should have done years ago. I will help you, my sister, to save your friends; though I must warn you it will be extremely dangerous."

"Thank you!" Weiss exclaimed in the loudest of whispers, throwing her arms around her sister again. "I would rather die than sit here another second. I have been formulating a plan for the last several weeks."

She leaned in and whispered it gently into her sister's ear. Winter looked mildly impressed, saying frankly

"That actually might work."

Then, without warning, she stood up with a jolt and slapped Weiss in the face with all her might. Her younger sister immediately cried out and began to whimper in pain.

"How dare you insult our family so!" Winter howled. Is this really how you would treat your own blood!?"

"I don't care what you say! Atlas is corrupt and so is our father! I wish I had never been born into this family!"

"That does it" answered Winter menacingly. She grabbed her sister violently by the arm, threw the door open, and dragged her down the stairs, practically running.

"Father!" She called to the man waiting in the sitting room at the bottom of the staircase. "Our dear Weiss here needs to learn some respect for Atlas and the Schnee family name. We are going to Prison Beta for a little chat."

Her father could not possibly have looked less bothered if he had tried as hard as Neptune. Without even looking he replied

"Good idea. You can keep that girl there as long as you like."


	4. Chapter 4

"So, did you trip the alarm back at home?" Weiss asked her sister a little while after they had taken off.

"Yes, as we walked out. I also placed a communication jammer right in the doorway. It will take hours for them to actually find it." Winter replied matter-of-factly. "You will stay here in the ship while I raise the alarm. The moment their smaller ships are out of sight, we will move to take the cruiser." She pointed to the massive ship that was docked at the far left corner of the floating platform.

"I know that!" Answered Weiss, annoyed. "This was my plan, after all."

"My apologies, sister. I am not used to you being in this position. I am proud of you, you know." She gave her a reassuring smile that did not completely cover the nervousness imprinted on her face. If truth were told, she did not feel entirely comfortable trusting her younger sister's plan, even if it did seem like a fairly decent idea. Weiss began to fidget with nervousness as well as they approached the dock.

The prison was a massive floating complex that held not only Atlas', but all of Remnant's most dangerous captives. A very distinctive structure, it was thin and cylindrical in shape, towering at a massive 50 stories tall. This staggering height of the prison itself was meant to emphasize the fact that it floated 5,000 feet above the ground. Indeed, no prisoner had ever escaped it before.

Luckily, Winter and Weiss were not prisoners and were not attempting to break out of Prison Beta. They merely wanted to commandeer an Atlas battlecruiser that was parked there and use it to fly all the way to Vale to help team RWBY, an only slightly less impossible task.

There were at least 20 guards on the platform itself which was no more than they had expected to find. What they were worried about were the guards in the troop transport ships on the side and the ones inside the prison itself. Winter was busy calculating their positions in her head as she pulled her ship in to land. She told Weiss to stay hidden as per the plan and ran out screaming to the guards.

"Code Orange! Code Orange! The White Fang has broken into the Schnee compound! They…" Winter's voice faded from Weiss' ears as she ran out toward the prison. The younger sister remained hidden in the cockpit of the ship, waiting impatiently for Winter to return. She was becoming quite nervous. Winter had to do quite a good acting job to sell the bait. At least they had actually managed to jam the communications and raise the alarm at home so several ships would need to go and check on the situation. She was just appreciating how Winter had chosen to help her without question when she heard the starting of engines and noticed her sister had arrived back on board.

"They bought it!" An uncharacteristic expression of pure glee was emblazoned upon Winter's face. "All but one craft has left along with half of the outer guards! I think we may actually pull this off!" She looked stunned at their success. Even Weiss did not realize just how important her father must actually be to Atlas. They both looked through the windshield, making sure all the other crafts had left and were completely out of sight before starting their own engines and making toward the ship that they intended to steal.

"This is it. Are you ready?" Ask Winter, taking a serious, intent look at her sister.

"More than I've ever been" responded Weiss with a confident voice. She was definitely nervous, but her sister's support gave her the bravery needed to take the most daunting risk of her life. Winter aimed carefully and caused the ship to overshoot the dock and land right on the platform with a horrendous screech as the metal of the underside scraped against the platform. Weiss was impressed with her sister's piloting skills. The ship amazingly came to a halt right next to the cruiser, blocking any easy access to it from the guards. The Schnee sisters immediately dashed out onto the platform, opened the side door to the cruiser, and climbed aboard. They both ran to the control deck and immediately began to start the ship's engines after easily dispatching the mere two guards onboard the ship.

The sound of the engines starting raised the alarm even more. Every guard on the platform began running toward them. A massive explosion was heard, informing the girls that their smaller craft had been obliterated. Knowing the small side door would never be able to hold back their attackers, both Weiss and Winter ran back to the platform and faced roughly 15 guards who, while angry, did not look ready to fight such strong opponents, even if there were only two of them. With only a few sword strokes each, the guards were quickly dispatched. Weiss and Winter looked at each other in shock. No more guards were exiting the prison, despite the alarm being raised. Startled by their own success, they returned to the ship in triumph and tossed the two guards from the ship onto the platform. The alarm was still blaring through the air, but it was too late. The engines were ready and with Winter taking the controls, the stolen Atlas cruiser was soon headed south west at full speed. Not long after, they were speeding over the ocean with no pursuit in sight. The guards and prison officials had reacted too slowly to do anything to stop them. They had made it.

Blake stood stark still as Mercury continued to walk along the lonely, abandoned streets of Vale. She was shocked to see him there all alone, without Cinder or at least Emerald with him. After looking around the street and tops of buildings to ensure that he really was not accompanied by anyone, she decided to follow him. This was a much bigger lead than anything she had discovered since she had been on the run.

He was on the opposite side of the street as her. She decided to stay on the side she was on, due to it being easier to see him from such an angle. He was walking in the same direction as she was and she assumed she had caught up to him because he was being cautious. However, while he was walking right up against the wall, he was not being especially stealthy or careful.

In fact, after following him very carefully for 5 minutes, he had only looked up and around to see if anyone was following him twice. Blake wondered why she was bothering to crouch behind the rooflines and other building features. Even if he did look at her, with the lights in this part of the city shut off, there was no way a human would be able to spot her.

The slow, casual pursuit continued for over an hour. The only interesting events that occurred were Mercury turning right, forcing Blake to climb down the building she was on, cross the street, and climb up another building on the other side. However, she was so stealthy that he never had a clue what she was doing. Blake did notice after a while, however, that the dim light on the horizon was beginning to grow brighter. The further they travelled, the more Blake's target looked around at his surroundings and the more cautiously he moved. It soon became obvious where he was going. She wondered what he was doing risking going toward the safe zone of Vale all by himself while being such a wanted man.

It was obvious that he was indeed headed there, but why? WIt hardly seemed worth the risk, especially considering how poor his stealth abilities were. As they approached the entrance, Mercury made his move. He climbed up the building on his side of the street, though he was not quite as adept at this as Blake. The vertical takeoff that his robotic leap gave him surprised Blake, but his landing on the fire escape was less than ideal and the resulting clunk caused 2 of the 3 guards to venture out and investigate the noise.

She rolled her eyes at his racket, but remained hidden up on the other side of the street. Despite his rocky start, Mercury made up for it by sprinting across the rooftops with impressive speed. Blake hurried after him, both of them leaving the guards far behind. Once inside the safe zone, they slowed down and were far more cautious than before.

There were no citizens outside during this wee morning hour, but there were dozens of guards and many street lights on, making it much more difficult to sneak around. Blake even recognized Coco Adel standing guard at the front gate. Maybe it was for this reason that Mercury did not travel very far into the safe zone, though Blake could not be certain at all. He merely made it to the corner of an intersection, leaned over the building and gave a very close look at several of the buildings below and then began walking back toward the entrance where the guards had already returned to their posts in confusion.

The journey back through the abandoned part of Vale was as uneventful as it had been previously. It was nearly an hour of slow progress where only two Grimm packs were spotted off in the distance before anything interesting happened for Blake. They had passed the point where she had spotted him over half an hour ago. He had finally become a little more cautious in the last 5 minutes, making many more checks of the surrounding area.

Blake reminded herself that subtlety could not have been his strong point, knowing that even Cardin probably could have tracked Mercury without being noticed. She noticed him take a very sweeping look of the area before dashing into an abandoned building opposite the one she was on top of.

The young faunus made quick work of climbing down her own building over to the one her target had entered. He was clearly overconfident as she could hear him walking even from the sidewalk. She climbed silently up the side of the building. As she made it to the second to top floor, she heard him enter a door on the opposite side. She climbed in the window nearest to her and stealthily made her way over through the abandoned room into the hallway. His voice was quite easy to hear and she traced it to a door right in the center of the building. Moving silently, she walked over to the door and put her head against it, easily being able to hear everything said inside.

"I never said it would be easy" said an exhausted, but relatively calm Mercury. "Still, you should be glad. Both spots are quite close to each other and the entrance. Besides, the distraction's got to be me so if either of us should be worried, it shouldn't be you."

Blake then heard one of the two female voices that she expected to respond.

"Yeah, you're right." Said the familiar voice that did not sound quite as confident as Blake was used to hearing it. Normally quite friendly and outgoing, Emerald sounded very quiet and unsure. "So can we do it tomorrow? I'm getting nervous cramped up in here." This did not sound like an Emerald and Mercury that were scheming to put the next phase of their leader's evil plan into motion. It sounded like a desperate plan to improve a hopeless situation. She pressed her ear to the door even more intently.

"Tomorrow will be perfect. The sooner we get this done, the better. I don't like the idea of the White Fang continuing the work without us. We need her on her feet now."

Blake was rather puzzled momentarily. There was only one 'she' that Mercury and Emerald could be referring to. Here was confirmation that something was indeed wrong with their evil group. What did they mean by saying she was not on her feet? Was something wrong with her? Blake, like nearly everyone else that knew anything at all about what happened on top of Beacon Tower (and there were very few people who knew anything) assumed that Cinder had escaped Beacon Tower all on her own and was somewhere outside of Vale plotting her next move. If for some reason, Cinder had not made it out unscathed, it could be a major opportunity to take her and her team out. If Blake was able to confirm this and either destroy her herself or at least relay the information to the remaining hunstmen and huntresses in Vale, it could almost begin to make up for all of her mistakes.

Deciding that a closer look was required, she moved quickly back to the window she had entered and climbed onto the roof. Dashing swiftly over to the other side of the building to the window of the room where her enemies were. Mercury and Emerald did not sound like they were near, so Blake risked a peak into their hideout.

She nearly fell off the building with shock. There, lying with eyes closed and motionless in the left corner of the room lay the person responsible for all of the recent pain in Blake's life.


	5. Chapter 5

"I must be honest with you, sister. I did not expect your plan to work quite that well." Winter was sitting comfortably in the captain's seat of the ship she had stolen only hours ago with Weiss, who was pacing around the deck impatiently.

"I did not expect it to go that well either, actually. Maybe we're better than I thought. Certainly, we can do more than Father would ever have given us credit for." She smiled darkly as she said this.

Winter smiled back more happily and then they both burst into laughter.

"I though Father's expression was amusing when you went to Beacon. Imagine what he must look like now!" Winter was happier than Weiss had ever seen her and it did much to lighten her own preoccupied mood. The joy she was feeling went beyond the success she had just achieved, the confidence she had gained through her bravery, her final rejection of her father's control, and the satisfaction that she was doing the right thing for her friends. All of that was wonderful, but she was still worried that she had been passive too long and was responsible for too much harm to her teammates. However, this moment with her sister was a genuine moment of joy between them that she had always longed for, but had never been able to experience.

"I think his mustache may fall off!" Said Weiss, basking in the happiness.

Since their escape, the journey had gone quite smoothly without them spotting or tracking a single pursuing craft in the sky. Weiss was finally losing her nervousness over being caught by Atlas. However, that only allowed her to worry more about her teammates, the danger they were in, and how angry they must be with her. So much time was spent figuring out how to get out of Atlas and to get to Vale that she was not entirely sure what to do when she arrived. Not surprisingly, her sister had noticed this for quite a while and decided to push her in the right direction.

"So, what is your plan for when we arrive? We are only a couple of hours away and I need to know what location to arrive at and what to expect when we reach our destination."

Weiss stopped dead in her tracks and quickly looked out the window, away from her older sister.

"Well, um…"

She expected to be berated, but instead she received an unexpected response from Winter- laughter. It was not a derisive laughter either, it was warm and kind-hearted.

"Relax, Sister" Winter said, still chuckling slightly. "Of course you have no idea what the exact situation is like in Vale right now. How could you? I doubt you have had contact with any of your friends since being trapped at home for such a long time. You need to learn to realize that it's OK to not always have an answer for everything. You have definitely been at home with Father for too long."

Weiss smiled appreciatively.

"That's true, Winter. Thank you…." She still hesitated, slightly. Winter was surprised to see that her words had not completely calmed her sister's mood. "I just feel so guilty for leaving them behind and now I have no idea where any of them actually are or if they're even OK right now." She faced the window again in shame. "I have no idea where to even start."

Winter stood up and walked over to the window, putting her hand on her sister's shoulder.

"You do know where to start, Weiss. You just need to figure it out. This will be good practice for you. Forming a plan from what information you have available to you will be valuable for you as a huntress."

Weiss turned around and gave her sister an appreciative look. "OK, what do I do?"

Winter stood sternly, being in her element demonstrating military strategy for her sister.

"First, we must establish everything we know about the situation in Vale and everything about your friends themselves. First, tell me about each of your teammates. Their histories, personalities, and most importantly, where they were when you last saw them. After this, we will establish everything we can about the overall situation in Vale."

"OK!" Weiss replied happily. "I know quite a lot about my team." She began pacing again, but this time in a confident manner, trying to recall every little piece of important information about her team. She spoke while she walked, clearly in her element recollecting the mental (and perhaps even written) notes she had taken on her teammates. "Ruby is two years younger than the rest of us and it shows in some ways. She is rather immature and naïve, has a lot of energy, which pairs well with her semblance which I think is some sort of super speed. She is an impressive fighter, especially for her age. I am still not sure how I feel about her being team leader. She does lead well in battle, but she can be impulsive at times and does not always carefully weigh all of the facts and she is inexperienced due to her age. However, she is very caring and always puts others before herself. I think that may be why Ozpin chose her as leader. I do not know too much about her past yet, but I do know that her mother has been dead for years and that she grew up on an island off the coast of Vale."

"Very good" replied Winter. What can you tell me about the others?

"Well, Yang is not as impulsive her sister when in a good mood, but she is even more reckless when angered. Unfortunately, her temper is very short, which can land her in some very dire situations. She also very caring, though not quite as selfless as Ruby. She is in fact an excellent fighter, especially in one on one combat. I think only Pyrrha Nikos is superior in our year. She is quite bubbly and is the most outgoing and flirtatious out of all of us. She told us that she became a huntress simply because she wanted the adventure and she liked to go with the flow. I think that sums her up best. However, Blake did once warn me that she is quite obsessed with trying to find her mother who has abandoned her since birth." She continued to pace, trying to figure out how best to summarize her final point. "However, she may not be the fighter she once was. She lost her arm in the fighting at Beacon and without Atlas contact, I doubt she has gotten a replacement yet."

Winter gave her a dark look and nodded. Weiss began to pace again, having the most difficulty with the last member of her team.

"Blake is… complicated. Her past is quite clouded. She used to be a member of the White Fang. In fact, I would not be surprised if she was involved in some of the attacks on Father's company considering how proficient her fighting skills are. She is not as gifted as Ruby or as skilled as myself or Yang, but she is driven, obsessed at times, though she did run away when she revealed that she was a member of the White Fang. As angry as I used to be with her, I do trust her. She literally did not rest until we thought we stopped the White Fang and that Torchwick guy. I have no idea how she went from being a member of that evil group of degenerates her whole life to hating them so much, but whatever happened must have been quite serious. Also…" Weiss hesitated here, almost choking up. "… I think she really is a good person. It must have been difficult for her to leave the only life and friends she ever knew. I think I may have been too hard on her back then. I really hope she is OK. She was completely destroyed after seeing Yang's arm and she definitely blamed herself for it." She finished and faced her sister in hopes of hearing some answers, but Winter instead asked more of her.

"Very good. Now, what exactly happened after the tournament was interrupted?"

Weiss then proceeded to retell the Battle of Beacon in exhausting detail, knowing that her sister would accept nothing less. She was quite happy to tell her sister of her successful summoning to protect Velvet, but her happiness never returned after having to talk about seeing Yang without her arm for the first time. "She was unconscious and Blake was sobbing, holding her other arm. I never learned what happened, but I know she blamed herself for it regardless. After we got on the ship, they took us to some safe zone that they had sort of turned into a makeshift hospital. I wanted to talk to Blake, but she would not leave Yang's side as they cleaned up her arm and re-bandaged it. Being the most stable, Goodwitch, the police, and Ironwood all interviewed me separately. By the time I got out, I was too exhausted and had to sleep and when I woke up, Father had already arrived and took me away before I could even say goodbye…"

"Do not blame yourself, Sister" Winter replied quickly, not wanting her sister to loose heart. "You have given more information than you have probably even realized, though unfortunately it does not mean good news for us."

"How?" Weiss asked, confused.

"You described your teammates quite confidently and clearly. Ruby is impulsive and completely selfless, Blake runs away from her problems, and Yang is obsessed with finding her mother, but is without an arm right now. The only one with even a chance of being somewhere we can find them is Yang."

Weiss was shocked that her sister could be so confident in judgement and objected immediately.

"How do you know that?!"

"Is it not obvious?" Her sister replied sternly. "Ruby is selfless and reckless and also under the influence of her less than responsible uncle. There is no doubt in my mind that she has taken it upon herself to go off to attempt to stop the White Fang and anyone else responsible for this situation. Blake is driven, but cowardly. Having blamed herself for Yang's condition, I am certain that she has fled in fear and shame. My guess is that she also went off to fight the White Fang, though not with Ruby. Yang is driven to find her mother, but has been incapacitated. I know war, Weiss. I have seen what such injuries can do to a person. The Yang you knew may not exist anymore. However, what I do know is that you are right about it being highly unlikely that she could have had a cybernetic replacement installed already. She may have run off to find her mother, but in her condition there is a much greater chance she is still in Vale. I suggest the first thing we do is go back to that safe zone. She may be there and if not, hopefully we can find out more from everyone else there. If that proves fruitless, we can check that island you talked about."

"OK…" said Weiss, hesitantly. She was still unsure of her sister's certainty and she was now less than excited to see Yang. She took a deep breath as Vale finally became visable over the horizon.


	6. Chapter 6

Despite the fact that the previous nights' sleep had not been very restful due to the extreme cold, Team RNJR woke up in relatively high spirits thanks to their discovery of an actual route to their destination the night before. All four of them got up and stamped out what was left of the fire and it was a sign of their good mood that they all offered to take point duty on their journey that day.

Nora won the argument on the grounds that she had actually been able to sleep through the night as she was the only one who had packed a sleeping bag for herself, rather than the thin blankets that the others had. Their spirits only improved as they noticed after a couple of hours of walking that they were nearly out of the forest and about to join the road for the first time.

"Isn't there a spot coming up where we can see Beacon easily?" asked Nora happily. "I want to make sure that that dragon thing is still frozen!"

"Yeah!" responded Ruby." I think it's only a few minutes away." She was slightly nervous that the dragon was no longer frozen, but she knew the spot that Nora was referring to. Professor Peach had mentioned it once in class, but Ruby and Yang had been there many times with their dad as he showed them where they would graduate from one day. As she took the lead for the last few minutes to guide her team, she thought sadly to herself how much less cheerful that memory had become. Still, she did hope that seeing the still-frozen dragon would boost her confidence as well as her teams'. It would show them that evil had not completely triumphed yet.

However, as the four friends entered the clearing near the cliff to glimpse the school, the site that met their eyes did not have quite the desired effect. The dragon was still there of course, but the scene was not reassuring. Rather, it was a bleak reminder of the destruction and darkness that had overtaken Remnant only a few months earlier. Worse still, it brought back very specific and horrific memories to all of the young huntsmen and huntresses present. Jaune's sniffs reminded the rest of them the reason for their team composition being what it was.

The rest of them whipped away some tears as well, but Jaune managed to turn the sadness from seeing their former home into the inspiration they all had initially wanted. "Stay focused everyone" he reminded them with as much courage as he could muster. "We don't want anyone to forget why we're doing this. We can't let anyone we love get hurt or…"

"Yeah!" agreed Nora forcefully, jumping ahead of Jaune to take point again. "They're going to PAY for what they did to her."

She said this last sentence with such a cold malice that it made the others wonder if Nora had been hiding just how affected she was by Pyrrha's death. She had after been the closest female friend that Pyrrha ever had. They had even gone to the doubles round of the Vytal Festival tournament together. Still, her forceful words helped to steel their resolve, despite the fact that a darker mood had crept in on their adventure once again. They reached the end of the forest just after midday and while the snow was still too deep to clearly see the road they were supposed to take, the lack of tree coverage meant that the powder was slightly melted away and there did seem to be a general route to follow. Nora pushed forward with the rest following close behind, taking the lead back from Ren who had taken over for Jaune a couple of hours before. The lower height of the snow made it much easier for the shortest member of the party to lead and it seemed that the snow would begin to clear up shortly. Indeed, it did begin to disappear rapidly within the hour and the rest of the day saw them make very steady progress with them only encountering one small pack of Grimm which they easily defeated. By the end of daylight, the snow was so low that they were able to walk side by side on the road.

"Have you seen Qrow lately?" Darkness had fully fallen that evening, but the four of them felt confident enough to stay on the path later into the night due to the increased progress allowed by not having to trudge through snow anymore. Ren had mentioned earlier that they probably only had to walk for a week until they met the road that would take them to the sea.

"Now that you mention him, I haven't seen him since yesterday" Jaune replied to Ren, puzzled.

"Maybe he finally learned how to hide properly" added Nora sarcastically.

"He's gone" said Ruby firmly in a slightly bitter voice. "I saw him take off the moment we turned away from looking at Beacon." She looked at the ground as she talked, obviously disappointed in her uncle.

Ren and Nora new better than to say anything to her, but a timid Jaune said

"I feel a little less safe now."

"Why?! He never helped us before. We're doing perfectly fine on our own!" She had wheeled around and stared dead into Jaune's blue eyes with her own slightly watery silver ones.

That very moment, a loud howl was heard in the distance and soon after, the sound of many approaching footsteps. Grimm were coming and it was obvious from the get go that there were a lot more than before. They were difficult to see in the dark, but Ruby was able to take out several with her precise sniper fire. Nora took out a large group with a perfect grenade shot and Ren dashed forward silently slicing through several large Beowolves and Boarbatusks with ease. Several more approached from their left flank and Nora took all of them down with only two massive swings from Magnhild. On the opposite side of the fight, Ruby was slicing through Ursai with ease, her anger with her uncle being release with each swing of her scythe. Jaune had just run forward to join Ren taking out the last of the Boarbatusks when he noticed several strange figures approaching from the road ahead. They looked as if they were large Grimm with two faces, one on top of the other. As the figures moved closer, however, it became clear that the reality was much worse. Jaune and Ren could see that members of the White Fang, clad in their sinister Grimm masks and holding massive guns, chainsaws, and swords, were riding on the backs of Ursai.

Jaune did his best attempt to be brave as Nora and Ruby joined himself and Ren, raising his shield and sword as at least 3 dozen White Fang members rode toward them.

"How are they doing that!?" Yelled Jaune, no longer able to contain his fear.

"More importantly, how did they know we would be here?" Responded Ren darkly. Ruby nodded in agreement, trying to formulate a plan as the riders closed in. They were only 500 feet away when she made her decision.

"Take the Ursai out from underneath the riders!" She shouted this as she began to fire her bullets at the closest Grimm. She managed to hit its foot enough times for it to trip and fall, rolling over and crushing its rider in the tumble. Nora took aim and fired at the ground in front of several others, taking them out as Ruby repeated her strategy on as many as she could. Probably 10 riders had been knocked off of their mounts, but not all of them had been killed and the rest closed in and RNJR prepared for close quarters combat again. Jaune and Ren ran back to join the two girls in a more defensive formation, but Ruby's rage over Qrow had triggered her feeling of responsibility over Pyrrha's death and this made her even more rash than usual. She wanted to go on the offensive.

"Nora!" she yelled, looking at the hammer-wielding redhead with darkness in her eyes as she gave a grim smile. "Break their legs."

Nora did not need telling twice and the two girls charged forward, catching Ren and Jaune off guard. They soon followed suit, having no other choice and soon all four of them were slashing and smashing through the first wave, tripping up as many Ursai as possible and doing what they could to take out the riders that fell off. Nora took out the most by far, sending Ursai flying into the air several times.

Jaune had been knocked down a few times, however, and Ren was even more tired than usual, having to put in a lot of effort due to the fact that his weapons were the least effective for this type of work and the fact that the girls had rushed forward and were already in the third wave, leaving far too many for Ren and Jaune to deal with. Ren had nearly been shot already, and even Ruby had started to grow weary, having been thrown to the ground by the more powerful riders of the third wave.

Hammer, scythe, sword, and daggers flew wildly throughout the battlefield as Ruby and Nora had regrouped and made their way back toward their teammates to support them. They had knocked at least three quarters of the riders off of their mounts, but many of them had reclaimed their mounts and had regrouped with the rest. Additionally, there were still lone Ursai and riders without mounts that were still formidable opponents. The team was becoming worn out and had grouped together in a desperate attempt to protect each other. Ruby saw that their situation was deteriorating and realized that they needed an alternate plan. She swiveled her head several times and saw something that could save them.

"Make for the trees." She shot her gun behind her as she dashed forward, knowing that their smaller numbers would be better off in a more tight, obstacle ridden area where they could actually have the high ground. The hooded girl made it to the tree line first with Nora helping boost Jaune up before turning to find Ren. He was lagging behind, pursued very closely by 3 lone Ursai.

"Hurry, Ren!" Nora called desperate as she waited by the nearest tree to boost him up it. Ren, however, was too winded from having to deal with the largest amount of opponents earlier after Nora and Ruby dashed off ahead. Nora picked up her hammer, realizing that he was not going to make it only a few moments too late. As she leapt forward to defend her best friend, one of the Ursai took a large swipe at him, causing a sickening crush as the claw made contact with the right side of his abdomen, launching him straight into the tree that he was running toward. Magnhild made contact only a second later, crushing the guilty Ursai's head into mush. Two more enraged swings took out the other two with ease and immediately afterward, Nora dashed back to Ren where Ruby and Jaune already were. He did not move and it was unclear if he was even breathing.

"Take him into the trees. Get him away from here" said a voice that no one recognized. Ruby and Jaune were shocked to realize that it was Nora who had spoken with a voice that could not have been hers. Jaune thought for half a moment that Qrow had returned to save them. The voice had none of the joy, energy, sarcasm, or passion that it always had even when its owner was angry or sad. This voice was low, cold, and dead. Ruby and Jaune grabbed Ren's body, struggled into the forest and as they disappeared from view, a small, lone figure remained facing the oncoming hoard.

Nora Valkyrie climbed to the top of the tree that Ren had hit as the 20 Ursai and at least 10 remaining White Fang members approached her. There was no fear in her eyes. Flipping open a small, hidden latch on the hilt of her hammer, Nora clicked a button that she had never pressed before, having only installed it in preparation for this journey. Immediately, her weapon surged with an amount of electrical energy that would have killed at least 3 of even the strongest huntsmen on contact. She then jumped up into the air as high as she could, using a grenade to launch herself into the sky. At the apex of her jump, she fired again, falling with an undeniable force.

The impact was so horrible that it created an crater almost a quarter of a mile in diameter. Trees uprooted and fell, Faunus and Grimm flew into the air, with some Ursai disintegrating before they even had the chance to return to the ground. Several cries of pain hit her ears as she turned and stumbled back toward the tree line. She was too dazed and tired to continue fighting whatever survivors may have remained, but she felt confident that nothing would dare chase her at this point. Completely emotionless, Nora made her way through the quickly thickening forest with as much speed as she could muster.

Finally, after over a mile of toil, she saw her friends in the distance resting in a small outcropping of trees. Ren was still not moving. Nora could see no sing of Grimm or White Fang approaching her. She didn't know what it was – perhaps it was the fact that she had no strength left in her body, or perhaps it was something else, but she could not bring herself to move a step further. She leaned up against a tree and fell to the floor, tears flowing relentlessly down her cheeks.


	7. Chapter 7

NOTE: So volume 4 has started and has renewed my interest in continuing and finishing this story. Of course that means that I will be writing what was supposed to be my version of volume 4 right when the actual volume 4 is happening.

Fortunately, most of what I have and still want to write so far seems quite different from where the actual show is going so it should remain different (though I actually guessed a couple things right, such as Nora's weapon upgrade). Not only that, but this story should go well beyond the timeline of 1 season.

I am debating whether or not to incorporate some of the new villains in this story after seeing them. I really like them plus, I don't feel bad about it because this is already plagiarism in the first place! :D If anyone has any opinion on this, feel free to let me know and I will consider it. Thanks and enjoy!

P.S. I swear I am going to try to be way more consistent with uploads for anyone who cares. I have several chapters already written for future content so it should start to speed up.

Chapter 7:

The warmth of the sun nudged at Blake's face until it finally forced her awake. She swiveled her head back and forth quickly and then rolled from her back to her stomach silently, attempting to stay out of sight. She did her best to keep her breathing even, but it was difficult. She was not supposed to have fallen asleep.

She had been watching Emerald and Mercury's hideout for the whole night and observing their every move, which did not amount to much. In fact, she had really spent most of the darkness contemplating how to handle the situation. Should she confront the two villains herself or should she warn her former allies at the Vale stronghold and try to work with them to thwart the two foes?

The second plan would be more successful if it worked, but Blake was very nervous about telling everyone about Mercury and Emerald. Would they believe her? Everyone must have known about her running away. The stronghold was where she should have been right now if she was not already with her team. How would anyone trust someone who abandoned her school, friends, and team so easily?

The young faunus rose slowly and peered out her window across the street toward Emerald and Mercury's hideout and then scanned the other surroundings. She was clear, it seemed, but she still had to check to see where Cinder's cronies actually were. She climbed out the window and up to the roof and then dashed to a fire escape and slid all the way down it silently before making her way across the street and up to her targets' room. She cursed to herself as she found that the two were already in mid conversation.

"We can't just leave her here. Someone might find her!" came Emerald's voice from inside.

"We don't have a choice and besides, this is a two man job. I'm not risking my own neck going in there without backup" retorted Mercury. "Besides, nobody's going to find her here. There's nobody even out here. Grimm haven't found us in weeks and she's way too knocked out to have any emotions to attract them to her."

Blake almost gasped in shock. She had completely forgotten this. Mercury and Emerald would have to leave Cinder alone to do whatever it was they were planning in the stronghold. Her mind raced. This was an incredible opportunity, but it only made her choices that much more difficult. She could try to move Cinder herself, but she probably wouldn't get very far and where would she even take her? She could go back to the stronghold and tell them, but would they really believe her? She could just wait for Emerald and Mercury to leave and finish Cinder off herself... what was the right thing to do? What would Ruby do? What would Weiss or Yang do? She shook her head quickly.

"Don't think about her" she thought to herself. Blake had been on her own for months and whatever spare moment where she wasn't fighting off Grimm or attempting to track down the White Fang was spent trying not to think about her former partner. The guilt of leaving her with all the pain and suffering and damage that she herself caused made frequent, unwelcomed appearances in Blake's mind and she really had not gotten any better at ignoring them.

This time was different, however. She was able to push Yang into the corner of her mind even if she was not able to completely kick her out. For the first time since leaving her team, she actually could be of use and help people. Of course, the problem was figuring out how best to handle this situation.

The obvious option was to rush over to the stronghold and try to talk to Glynda. Blake hated to leave her enemies alone and she hated even more the idea of having to face anyone from Beacon again, but this opportunity was too important to pass up and there was just no way she would be able to get Cinder anywhere on her own. Plus, as much as she wanted the cause of all the world's misery dead, having her as a live hostage could be far more valuable.

Not hesitating any longer, the nimble faunus deftly made her way down the abandoned building and across the street as quickly, yet silently as possible. Once out of sight and earshot of the building, she broke into a sprint. Doing her best to remember where the stronghold was, she kept up her pace even as she began to sweat and pant. She figured that the faster she ran, the less chance she would have to second guess herself.

This strategy seemed to work and it was not long before she turned the final corner and set her sights on the entrance to Vale's stronghold. She finally pulled up from her run to take a short rest and compose herself before facing everyone, but immediately after wiping the sweat from her brow, she heard a strangely familiar voice off in the distance.

"Blake?! Is that you?" Blake's eyes darted and instantly recognized the ears of Velvet Scarlatina. "It is! It is Blake! Hey Yatsu, Blake's back!"

She was literally jumping with excitement, which certainly surprised Blake. She even entertained the thought that Velvet might actually be happy to see her. Walking toward the entrance, she saw Velvet climb down from the same makeshift lookout post above the gate that she had seen Coco stationed in the previous night and open the door for her which Blake was impressed to see was somehow automatic and looked surprisingly sturdy. As her fellow former Beacon student came to greet her, she looked around and saw that the stronghold was actually quite impressive, something that she failed to see when following Mercury. Sure, much of the walls were clearly made of rubble, but they were impressively neat and looked quite sturdy and what she saw of the interior was surprisingly clean and well-kept. Glynda probably had something to do with all of this neatness.

Blake was still looking at this when Velvet ran up to her and gave her a very unexpected (but not unwelcomed) hug.

"Ooooh, it's SO good to see you! Everyone from Beacon has been worried sick about you Blake. Well, not Team CRDL, but everyone else was. Some people even thought you died, but I knew you were OK. I figured you just needed some time to yourself. I know how you like that kind of thing and I figured you would turn back up, but still, I can't say I wasn't worried about you."

Not sure what to say, Blake simply stared with her jaw agape at Velvet as she finally stopped talking and broke apart from the hug. Unfortunately, she noticed Blake's expression and looked quite hurt.

"Oh no!" she said apologetically. "What did I say?"

"No, it's not that!" Blake replied immediately, not wanting to cause any distress. "It's just…"

The truth was that Blake had not expected anyone to be anything less than angry and hostile toward her. She half expected to have to break the door down to get in and try to explain the situation to everyone. She did not expect or even feel that she deserved such a welcome as the one she had just received from Velvet.

"I'm very happy to see you, Velvet" finished Blake while giving her friend the first genuine smile she had had in months. "Things are just… complicated, and I have some very important news. I need to speak to whoever is in charge here, now."

"I'll take you to Glynda right away!" Piped Velvet, taking Blakes hand in hers and jogging into the compound, pushing the button to close the door as she went.

Blake hurried along with Velvet, still impressed with how well-kept the Vale stronghold was. It was certainly a massive improvement over her own living conditions. She could not help but see, however that there was nobody out and about. Velvet had noticed the puzzled look on her face and answered the question before Blake was even able to ask it.

"All the citizens are locked up their houses now because all the huntsman, huntresses, and most of the police are in one of Glynda's strategy meetings" she explained as they rounded a corner. "We can't leave certain areas unguarded though, so today Yatsu and I guarded the main entrance and Cocoa and Fox are patrolling the docks with a couple policemen. I used to hate having to be on guard duty and not being in the meetings, but they've gotten so boring that our team is always volunteering to get out of there."

They turned another corner and Velvet finally pulled up from her jog as they came upon what looked like an old, abandoned dust shop.

"I may actually want to be a part of this meeting though now that you're here, especially if you've got something for us to finally do around here! Well, here we are."

The door to the shop wasn't even locked and there seemed to be nobody inside. Blake's eyes darted around, looking for some clue as to where a major strategy meeting could be held. Velvet then pulled on a dust dispenser and a part of the wall in the back opened up to reveal a staircase that lead downward. She beckoned Blake to follow and the two girls walked down the dark steps as the door slid shut behind them. The staircase corkscrewed sharply downward and there was only the dimmest of lighting. Blake nearly fell several times due to Velvet's pace, but she did not ask her to slow down. She wasn't even worried about interrupting Glynda's meeting anymore. She had Velvet with her and this was just too important to wait.

It was not until they reached the bottom that the light finally started to brighten. There was no door at the end of the hall, however, but Velvet still rushed over to it with no hesitation. She began pushing several of the bricks in the wall I rapid succession and Blake could swear she heard her whisper "Ozpin" during the sequence. Soon, the wall slid open and Velvet grabbed Blake's hand and rushed her into what looked exactly like one of the classrooms at Beacon. 

"Professor Goodwitch!" Yelled Velvet as she continued to rush Blake over to the front of the classroom. Glynda was there with professors Port and Oobleck who were both looking at a very large and detailed map of Vale that was being projected on the screen at the front of the room while many students and what looked like police were sitting where the students would sit if this was actually a classroom. Before Velvet could say another word, Glynda looked over with a shocked look on her face and spoke incredulously.

"Miss Belladonna? Where have you been?"

This was the type of reception Blake had been dreading.

"Well I'll be, it's one of my favorite students!" Boomed Professor Port.

"Blake! You're okay!" Added Professor Oobleck enthusiastically. "We have been worried sick about you."

Blake had not been expecting this. If she didn't know any better, Port and Oobleck were nearly as excited to see her as Velvet was. Even Glynda's expression softened as Blake walked up to them.

"We certainly have been worried about you. We sent several search parties to look for you, but I am very glad to know that you're alive."

Dumbstruck by this reception, she did not immediately speak and Glynda continued.

"Velvet, take her to the hospital immediately. I want her looked over and I will join you both when this meeting is over."

Velvet, however, did not move and instead reminded Blake of why she was there in the first place.

"Blake has something important to tell you!" 

Glynda looked even more shocked than she had when she first saw Blake. 

"Do you, Miss Belladonna?" she asked in a kind, but slightly patronizing tone. 

Blake finally regained her composure enough to burst out "I know where Cinder is!"


	8. Chapter 8

NOTE: See? I said I would be more regular with updates and this is the quickest one I have done yet! Any feedback is of course welcome! :D Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 8:

Oobleck nearly dropped his thermos. Port nearly dropped his mustache. Glynda looked dumbfounded, but still managed a response.

"Are you absolutely certain?"

"It's her." Blake answered confidently. She's in the city with Mercury and Emerald. She's unconscious. I think whatever Ruby did on that tower hasn't worn off yet."

"If what you say is true" began Glynda, collecting herself "it would change everything. We were certain Cinder and her team were with the White Fang planning their next move together. We figured they would try to finish off Vale for good. If she is not with them, they may be acting more independently and we may be able to go on the offensive."

"We don't have much time, though" replied Blake. I think Mercury and Emerald are going to try to get her out of Vale soon, but not before they attack this stronghold. I think they're planning on stealing something from here tonight."

"And how do you know that?" Responded Glynda critically.

"I saw Mercury walking around the city yesterday. He came to the entrance of this area and scouted it out. I followed him back and found out that he and Emerald are planning to steal something from here to help Cinder, but they both need to be here to do it which means Cinder will be all alone at the hideout."

"Oh ho! We can capture our enemy" explained Port in delight.

"Yes, yes. This is a fantastic opportunity for us that we cannot miss!" Added Oobleck before taking a sip from his thermos. "Velvet, please take some police and have them replace your teammates on guard duty and bring all of CFVY here. We need all available huntsman and huntresses here at once! We must formulate a plan."

"Miss Belladonna, has anyone been with you these past couple of months? Is anyone watching the hideout now?" Glynda asked Blake importantly.

"No, I've been alone this whole time" responded Blake. "I had to leave to tell you all about this. I couldn't bring Cinder here all by myself and I needed to warn everyone that Mercury

And Emerald were planning on attacking you."

Walking up to Blake, Glynda put a kind hand on Blake's shoulder and gave her a kind smile. "You did the right thing. Whatever reasons you had for leaving can wait. What matters is that you came back now and you may give us an advantage we never dreamed of having. Thank you, Miss Belladonna."

Blake smiled back at her with as much appreciation as she could muster.

"But we must act quickly!" Continued Glynda. "Blake, as soon as we figure out some form of plan I'm going to send you and at least one other back out to watch our targets and make sure their plans don't change." She walked over to the map that her and the professors were analyzing earlier and pointed at their current location.

"I need to know everything you know. First, could you tell me where they are located roughly on this map? What do you know about their plan? Have they been in contact with the White Fang or anyone else?" She fired off these questions in very rapid succession and while slightly overwhelmed, Blake was so relieved at being taken seriously that she fired her answers back with a sense of urgency not usually found in her voice.

"They're around here" she said walking up to the screen and pointing to an area just a few blocks northeast of the entrance to the stronghold. "As far as I know, they haven't been in contact with the White Fang, but I have only been watching them for the past day. As far as their plan, I'm not sure about that either. They must have made it before I found them. Mercury was here last night to scout everything out, but he didn't actually attempt to get in here so I think they're probably trying to steal something near the entrance."

"The medical supplies!" Oobleck interjected.

"Exactly what I was thinking" added Glynda. "They must be trying to steal something to help cure Cinder's condition, whatever it is. Are you sure there is no other information you have for us, Miss Belladonna?"

"I'm sure" Blake replied confidently.

At that moment, Velvet returned with Fox, Coco, and Yatsuhashi.

"Perfect timing" said Glynda as she saw them enter and walk over toward her. "Team CFVY, I want all of you to go with Blake to our enemy's hideout and watch them. If you learn any new information, one of you must come back and tell us. If not, wait until they leave, grab Cinder, and make your way here through the back entrance and into this room. Whatever else is happening, do not engage in any fighting unless you are directly attacked. I'm sure we will be able to handle whatever the other two have planned for us."

"Right, let's head out guys" said Coco as she began heading for the exit. Blake followed Velvet as they climbed the stairs and exited the abandoned dust shop. They all moved quickly through the stronghold and did not pause until they reached the front gate and had one of the guards open it for them.

"Lead the way, Blake" Said Coco, gesturing for Blake to exit the compound first.

Blake nodded silently in response and began walking quickly forward. As much as she wanted to run all the way there, she figured she at least needed to fill team CFVY in on what she knew and she would not be able to do that while running. However, Cocoa spoke before Blake could even begin.

"Velvet told me that Cinder is completely unconscious, is that true?" She asked.

"As far as I can tell, yes" Responded Blake.

Velvet piped up as well. "She must be really hurt, why else would they try to attack us all by themselves?"

"They are truly desperate" added Yatsuhashi.

"They did seem quite distressed as I watched them. They were arguing quite a lot and they definitely are not happy with their situation." Blake stopped talking as they neared the first intersection, peering around the building to make sure their way was clear before beckoning everyone to follow her.

"Ruby must have really done a number on her" said Coca, seeming quite impressed. "I wonder what actually happened."

"Did Ruby tell you what happened up there, Blake?" Asked Velvet excitedly.

Blake hesitated for a moment, almost completely stopping her pace. She was hoping that this subject would not come up. She was so relieved that everyone was so happy to see her, but she knew they would ask questions. This was largely why she had avoided going to the stronghold for so long. It wasn't just that she knew everyone would judge her for her actions, but more because she hated herself for what she had done.

"No, she didn't" Responded Blake quietly, attempting to end this conversation before it started.

"That's weird" continued Velvet, sounding rather concerned. "You would think she would tell her teammates about something like that."

Blake was becoming more nervous. She was flustered enough to forget to check around the corner of the next intersection.

"She's allowed to keep things to herself" Blake said, hoping this would shut Velvet up.

"That information could be very valuable, though" Coco said in a very critical tone. "As a huntress and as a team leader, it's her duty to report any information to her team, especially information as valuable as that.

Blake swore silently. She was corned. As much as she did not want to talk about this, she couldn't let Ruby look bad when she was the one at fault. She didn't even bother to go check on Ruby to see if she was okay…

"I haven't seen Ruby since the battle ended so she couldn't have told me anything even if she wanted to. I left before she woke back up."

Coco was clearly shocked by this information. "Oh!" she exclaimed.

There were several moments of awkward silence as Blake remembered to check around the next corner. Velvet, however, attempted to help the situation.

"Well, I'm sure you have a good reason for-"

"Can we just talk about this later?" Asked Blake, annoyed. We're getting very close and we need to be absolutely silent.

Nobody acknowledged her, but they stopped questioning her as well. They soon reached the final intersection and could see the top corner of the building that their foes were hiding in. Blake gestured for them to stop, and turned to speak to them.

"Which of you is the stealthiest?"

Fox and Velvet both raised their hands, Cocoa made a gesture indicating that she was decent at it, and Yatsuhashi, unsurprisingly did not move.

"Okay. I'll take Cocoa and Yatsuhashi up to the room I was watching them from in this building. Keep a lookout of the surrounding area. Velvet, Fox, and I will hide in their building. As soon as they leave, make sure they are completely out of sight and signal us. We'll grab Cinder and we'll take her back to the stronghold."

Team CFVY nodded silently in agreement. "Wait here" said Blake quietly to Velvet and Fox as she took Cocoa and Yatsuhashi around to the back entrance of the building. They followed her up the stairs silently, though Blake felt as though the back of her neck was burning from their judging eyes. She brought them to the correct room and rushed back down to join the other two. Back outside, Blake checked around the corner of the building to make sure nobody was looking out the window before dashing over to the other side with Velvet and Fox close behind. They climbed up the fire escape and in through the window that Blake had climbed in earlier.

She, Velvet, and Fox then made their way across the hall to the room next to their enemy's and listened carefully. As before, the emptiness of the building combined with the fact that all the windows were either opened or smashed meant it was very easy to hear everything Cinder's cronies were saying and Blake was quite relieved to hear that both of them (as well as Cinder) were all still there.

"Do we have to wait until sundown?" whined Emerald?

"For the last time, yes. We've gone over this plan 10 times already so will you stop asking me?" replied an annoyed Mercury.

"I'm just nervous about leaving her here."

"Nobody knows we're here. Now will you be quiet? The sooner you shut up, the sooner we can get this over with and maybe we'll be able to wake her up."

The subsequent silence lasted for at least an hour and the rest of the day seemed an eternity to Blake. The uncomfortable quiet was interrupted only very infrequently by several of Emerald's questions which were always quickly shut down by her partner in crime. This unfortunately allowed Blake's mind to wander back to where it always inevitably wandered to over the past months.

The guilt returned in full force thanks to the awkward conversation on the way over. She already had felt bad for leaving her team, but she felt even worse after being reminded that she did not even bother to check to make sure Ruby was OK before leaving. She had of course already overheard several times that Ruby had survived and in fact fully recovered, but the way Coco's voice changed when Blake had said that she ran before seeing her leader opened a fresh wound inside of her. The only shred of comfort was that she did in fact recover. Weiss was back in Atlas as far as Blake knew which, though not ideal due to Weiss' obvious antipathy toward her father, was probably at least a safer place to be than Vale right now. No, it was Yang that Blake still felt the most guilt about, and for so many reasons.

She was the cause of Yang's devastating injury that had nearly cost her her life. It was her fault. Her teammate, her partner, her best friend she had ever had, the person she loved and cared about more than anyone else in the world was broken and nearly killed because of her. She had heard nothing about Yang since she had run away, but not hearing about her meant that she was not in the stronghold with her classmates which only meant that she had not yet recovered. The guilt burned inside of her. She had wanted nothing more than to stay by her side, comfort her, help her recover, and most of all, tell her how sorry she was. Yet, she did none of those things and instead left her at the time of her greatest need. Why?

She was finding it harder and harder to answer that question as the months went on. At first, she fooled herself into thinking that it was to protect Yang, but she knew that was wrong. Blake being with Yang would not have made a difference to Adam if he had decided to try to go and finish her off. Blake was forced to accept the fact that she had just felt too guilty over what had happened and did not know how to deal with it. Instead of apologizing and attempting to fix the situation, she made it worse by running away, just like she always did. She felt worse about this every day and as the sun fell and the moment of action arrived, she could only hope that Yang knew how sorry she really was.


	9. Chapter 9

Note: Ok, so that last chapter started to get a little angsty and this one is about to get pretty Yangsty (I am not apologizing for that). All feedback and criticism is welcome, but I would like to point out that I feel that a lot of this does need to be covered, as edgelordy as it can seem at times. With a show, you can just show or imply the feelings that characters have, while in writing you must actually go over it.

I feel that this all needs to be covered due to just how powerful the end of Volume 3 was and I don't think I am going overboard with my descriptions of how the characters are feeling here. I don't want it to be overly angsty like this forever, don't worry.

Also- the romancy fluff is coming whether you want it or not. Again, I am trying to make this story as balanced as possible, but I am a hopeless romantic and there will be fluffy romance coming soon :D

Chapter 9:

The sun had just set on the horizon as Yang Xiao Long stared out into the endless sea. The beautiful rays of light had finally ceased their dancing on the waves and with that, the young huntress had lost her distraction for the day. The coldness of reality began to set back in. The freedom of being alone by the edge of the sea had been replaced by the isolation of being out at night. It was time for Yang to head back home.

She used to love being out alone in the night. The bracing cold made her feel alive and the darkness was freedom to her. Midnight rides on her motorcycle were some of her favorite memories. They made her feel so excited and at those moments, life was full of endless possibilities. Confidence was all around her then. Her strength, her skill, her style, her looks- Yang had everything then and she knew it.

Things were rather different, now. Her belief in herself had shattered and it was replaced with fear, doubt, and constant thoughts of pain and regret. In the past, being alone on her bike at night was a brief moment of freedom from the endless number of friends and family she surrounded herself with. Yang was the most popular girl in her class at signal and things had only improved at Beacon. She was fortunate enough to be placed on the same team as her sister Ruby and quickly got along with pretty much everyone around her. She considered her teammates to be her family and became best friends with her partner, despite their completely different personalities. If that wasn't enough, she was the only member of her class that could come close to Pyrrha in combat performance and her team had managed to take down the notorious Roman Torchwick and catapult her to the singles round of the Vytal Festival Tournament.

Her life looked like it could do nothing but keep climbing higher, but after her fateful fight with Mercury, it had entered a downward spiral thathad become inescapable. Moments to herself used to be short moments of freedom that helped her to appreciate everything and everyone she had. Now, being alone in the darkness served only to remind her that all of that was gone.

Her cargo pants rustled along with the leaves in the trees as she traipsed back to her house through the forest. Sitting at home was even worse. She was just as isolated there, but felt as though she were a prisoner. Being back at home did nothing but remind her of the fact that she was no longer at Beacon and had lost everything she had. These long walks that she went on every day were the one time she could clear her mind to some degree and enjoy what she thought was possibly the last beautiful place on earth. The sunsets were always her favorite. Gazing out into the distance while the brilliant sun lit up the shimmering ocean calmed her, if only for a moment and allowed her to see some beauty in the world. It was better than dealing with her real life, at least. Unfortunately, this day was different. Something gnawed at her brain even during her one moment of respite. It was as if some annoying voice in her head was purposely spoiling her peace and forcing her back into reality, reminding her of everything that had put her in this situation.

There were quite a lot of people and events that Yang could blame for the turn her life had taken and she had spent pretty much all of the past couple of months blaming and fixating on each one of them, though some were more prevalent in her audience-free tirades than others. Of course, Cinder was first on the list. That bitch killed Pyrrha, was responsible for Penny's death, and was the reason Beacon had fallen, why Adam had attacked Blake and why she had tried to save her...

Adam was the one that she tried to think about the least, though not because of what he actually did. She absolutely blamed him for what happened. He attacked Blake, he cut off her arm, and he was probably a large part of the reason that Blake had run off. No, Yang tried not to think about him because of HOW he did what he did. Despite her increased energy levels during her attack, Adam had sliced right through her arm, right through her fully charged aura as if it was not even there. Yang had never seen or even heard of anything even like it. Her father was not even able to explain it to her, much to his own disappointment.

This power that Adam possessed and what he did with it, the fact that she could not explain it, and the fact that he was still out there had filled Yang with a fear that she had not felt since she was ambushed by Beowolves while searching for her mother with Ruby asleep in the wagon. Losing her arm meant losing her fighting skill and therefore, the ability to defend herself. She could have gotten over this if not for the fall of Beacon. The lack of communication and the rumors that spread meant that she couldn't just have the school install her a new arm with the help of Atlas. This would have been a sure thing if not for the loss of Ozpin and the destruction of the tower. Perhaps this would not have been so devastating if her friends were still with her to comfort her and help her.

Nothing stung as much as this. Deep, deep down, Yang did not truly blame Blake for the loss of her arm. It was her own decision to go looking for her and her own decision to try to save her. It was the feeling of betrayal that hurt most; more than the loss of her arm and more than the weight of everything else that had happened. She had risked her life, lost her arm, and did in fact nearly die to protect Blake because she cared so much for her. Yet, after all of that Blake without so much as a 'thank you' or a 'sorry.' What a way to repay her for her selfless act of suffering.

Her dad knew nothing about this. There was no point in telling him. He would just try to patronize her and say something positive about Blake to try to make her feel better. She knew he was trying his best to take care of her, but there was really nothing he could do. He continued her training every day, teaching her new moves with her legs to compensate for her lost arm. Unfortunately, this was not his area of expertise and Yang's lack of motivation and her depression only made the situation more hopeless.

She had half a mind to run off to Atlas to try to get them to make her a new arm. Why shouldn't she? Everyone else had left. Blake had abandoned her, Weiss had gone back home with daddy, and even her own sister had left her for something more important. Yang kicked herself mentally for thinking this. She had gotten to the point that she sometimes even blamed Ruby for her lot in life; Ruby, who had never done a selfish thing in her life and who right now was risking her life chasing after the people who were actually responsible for everything horrible that had happened.

At times, she felt quite bad for letting her go without trying to help, but what use would she have been? She was in no physical or mental shape to take on the world head first like her sister was doing. As she approached her house, she was reminded of all the wonderful childhood memories she had with her family. The cookies her mom baked appeared fresh in her mind along with all the adventures that she would go on with Ruby around the island. Walking up to the back door, she paused to look at a dent that Ruby had made when trying to use one of Yang's gauntlets and smiled in spite of herself. Taiyang was nowhere to be seen as she entered the house and made her way over to her room.

This was just as well. She knew she should have appreciated him being there for her right now, but in her condition, she felt like she was a burden to him and this only served to remind her that she was at home doing nothing. She was not with her sister trying to save the world like she knew she should be doing. Instead, she was swimming in her own guilt and depression, waiting for something to rescue her from herself. Yang plopped down on her bed, looking up at the blank ceiling, still feeling sorry for herself and hoping that wherever her teammates were, they were doing something more productive than she was.

Sleep had almost overcome her when a strangely familiar sound snapped her out of her daze. It was a sound she had not heard in months… an airship? It sounded too big to be one of Vale's transports, however. The last time she had heard something this large was during the Battle of Beacon. Immediately, Yang bolted out of her bead and raced out the front door.

There was very little lighting on Patch, making it difficult to see, but as Yang ran outside and looked up to the inky skies above the mainland, it was clear enough that an Atlas cruiser was making its way toward Vale. She pulled up from her run, puzzled. What did this mean?  
"Is Atlas actually attacking Vale?" She thought to herself. "No, that makes no sense. Why would they attack with only one ship?" 

She had begun pacing around her front yard, entranced by this new development. This was the first interesting occurrence that had happened since her sister had left without telling her dad, and Yang had seen that coming weeks before it happened. This, whatever it was, was the first real distraction she had from her situation and she was ready to give it every ounce of her attention. 

"They could be sending medical supplies or aid to Vale" she thought, continuing her solo conversation. "Dad said that the stronghold has been low on medical supplies and weaponry." 

The ship began to slow and attempt to make a landing somewhere over the mainland. Yang thought frantically to herself, weighing her options. This could be an attack, and if it was, she was in great danger of being killed in her current condition. On the other hand, an attack was unlikely, especially considering the fact that no shots had been fired from the ship. This was most likely some sort of diplomatic or aid mission, which was technically an opportunity for her. She needed a new arm. She did not want to remain in this broken state any longer, physically or mentally. Atlas could at least help her with the physical half of that desire, even if it was a long shot. 

Still, was it really worth the effort? Anyone from Atlas would probably just ignore her anyway. There was really no chance of her actually getting a new arm from Atlas and even if she did, she doubted she would ever be able to get back to her former strength. As she was thinking to herself, she looked up to see the ship rising up from its attempted landing. It turned around and Yang watched in amazement as it headed straight for Patch.


	10. Chapter 10

"I didn't think it would get dark so quickly" said a concerned Weiss. "Won't this make landing difficult?"

"It will" replied Winter "but the darkness is the least of our difficulties."

The Schnee sisters were only a few miles from Vale and the sun had finally disappeared completely. Winter knew how to fly at night, but she had little experience with a craft of this size and Vale did not have docks for ships this size like Atlas did. However, that was not her biggest worry.

"What do you mean?" Asked Weiss.

"We do not know the situation in Vale right now. They could be overrun with Grimm or worse, under attack from the White Fang."

Weiss hesitated for a moment, looking out at what she could see of Vale.

"Well, what do we do?" She asked

"We need a safe place to land. Somewhere not too far away, but not somewhere where there would be many Grimm or White Fang."

Weiss nodded in agreement and went back to searching the area around their ship for a good spot to land. It was not long before she saw what she believed would be a perfect landing area.

"Right there!" She exclaimed. "The coast next to Forever Fall should have an area for us to land and there were never too many Grimm in the forest when we went there."

She pointed it out to her sister who moved the ship into [psition. However, as they began their landing procedure, Weiss looked out and saw a massive group of Grimm in the forest, huddling around the area they were trying to land in.

"Um, Winter... there-"

"I see them. We will have to find somewhere else."

Winter pulled the ship back up and turned it around. The moment she did, Weiss called out in excitement.

"Patch! It's straight ahead. Ruby and Yang grew up there. I think it's fairly safe and it's not too far away."

"It is not ideal. We would have to figure out a way to cross over to the mainland, but I don't think we have a better option."

Winter continued forward as she and Weiss searched for a place to land.

"Well, maybe Yang or her dad will be there. I'm sure they could help us get to Vale" suggested Weiss.

Her tone was one of nervous excitement. A large part of her was hoping to see one of her teammates again, but the rest of her was frightened of how she would be received upon arrival, due to her absence.

"I think we can land straight ahead. Do you see that field?" Weiss asked.

Winter nodded and slowed to land. Once on the ground, they made their way out of the ship and toward the town they had seen in the distance.

"Ruby never told you exactly where she lived, did she?" Winter questioned Weiss as they began walking.

"No, she didn't. I think she said they lived in a small house away from most other people, but I'm sure someone in the town knows where they live."

As the two sisters made it to the top of a small hill, they looked around to confirm their location and Weiss gasped in shock. Only a hundred yards away and instantly recognizable by her brilliant golden hair was Yang. Winter, noticing Weiss' reaction, looked over at Yang as well.

"Is that Ruby's sister?"

"It is. I didn't think we'd find her this easily."

Winter began walking toward Yang in earnest and Weiss quickly followed her.

Yang had not expected when she woke up that day to see an Atlas cruiser in Vale and she certainly did not expect it to land in patch. As she stood motionless in the field not far from her home, she did not expect to see Weiss and her older sister coming down the hill toward her.

She was quite nervous. Would Weiss be mad that she had let Ruby leave without going with her? Would she be happy to see her? Would she ask about Blake?

As she followed her sister down toward Yang, Weiss was having similar thoughts. She was quite afraid of Yang being angry with her for not coming back to her teammates earlier. Weiss admitted silently that she was upset at herself for not making a larger effort to come back and therefore was certain of Yang's anger. At the very least, Weiss did not want to appear cowardly and while nervous, she was genuinely happy to see her teammate.

Therefore, she rushed ahead of Winter at the last second, exclaiming "Yang! It's so good to see you!" as she threw her arms around the crippled huntress. Who returned the hug with her one remaining arm.

"It's so good to see you!" Weiss said in her bravest voice as she pulled away from the hug. How are you?"

"I'm... OK" lied Yang. "It's good to see you too, Weiss."

"I can see why your parents wanted to raise you here, it's beautiful" said Weiss, attempting pleasantries. "Is your house around here?"

Yang motioned behind her with her head while replying "it's just back over there a few hundred yards. Why? Do you need water or food or something?"

"Oh, no. Thank you." Weiss was looking more nervous, as though she desperately wanted to say something.

"We're looking for the rest of your team, Miss Xiao Long." Winter had been silent up until this point, but she had grown tired of her sister's pride holding her back from speaking.

"Oh! They're not here..." yang replied, hanging her head. 

"We were looking for you too!" Weiss added enthusiastically.

"Yeah, sure." Yang turned around and began walking back toward her house.

Weiss exchanged a very concerned look with her sister. She did not want to have come all this way for nothing.

"I'm sorry!" She called to Yang.

The blonde huntress stopped, but did not turn to face her teammate.

"It's OK. I wouldn't want to see me either right now."

Weiss ran up to Yang and put her hand on her shoulder.

"No. I meant… I'm sorry I left. I know that you, Ruby, and Blake needed me and I just let my father take me back to Atlas without a word of protest. I'm sorry I didn't try to come back sooner. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness now, but I want to make things right. I want to get us all back together again so we can stop Cinder and the White Fang!" She ended with an attempted smile toward Yang, who was still facing away.

"I don't blame you" replied Yang softly. "But there is no "us" anymore. You went Back to Atlas, I was stuck here, Ruby went off to chase Cinder on some stupid lead from my uncle, and Blake just ran to who knows where. So there is no more Team RWBY. We're finished. You may as well just go back to Atlas."

"Yang, what happened to you?" Weiss asked in a caring and concerned voice.

Before she could try to comfort her further, Yang had wheeled around violently, her eyes burning red.

"THIS happened!" She screamed, holding out the remainder of her right arm and pointing at it with her left. He cut right through my aura, Weiss. That's not even supposed to be possible! I have nightmares about it almost every night. I can't keep my mind straight throughout the day and I can't even train anymore because I can't fight anymore!"

Weiss was taken aback, though Winter appeared relatively calm. She attempted to speak, but Yang continue before she could begin.

"And where were my teammates?! Not here! You went home, Ruby went to go save the world, and Blake obviously decided that we're too much liability for her to be friends with us anymore!"

Both Schnee sisters stood silently for a few moments after Yang had finished her rant. Weiss reflected on how remarkably accurate Winter's predictions had been.

"Yang, I'm so sorry" Weiss began.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know." She turned away again and began walking toward her house. "But now you do, so you know you're better off going home or heading toward Mystral to find Ruby if you're really nuts."

"We came here for you, Miss Xiao Long."

Winter had done her best to stay silent for her sister's sake, but at this point it was clear that Weiss was unable to handle the situation properly. She strides over to a rather stunned looking Yang who had stopped dead in her tracks at the elder Schnee's words.

"I understand what you are going through, but sitting at home with nothing to do is not going to fix your situation. You may see yourself as useless now, but you could not be more wrong. My sister has risked my life and her own to find you and the rest of your team so clearly, you are important to her. Your wounds may still be fresh and your fears justifiably strong, but if you are half the warrior that my sister says you are, you will come out of this trial singer than ever, even if it does not feel that way now."

"Did you really risk your life just to come find us?

"Well, basically..." Weiss began, blushing slightly. She was very grateful that this was what Yang had taken from Winter's words. "Atlas is on lockdown, especially the military and the important families. All civilian ships have trackers and my dad was keeping me as a prisoner in my own home. I had no chance of getting out until Winter showed up and we still had to fight at least 30 Atlas soldiers and steal a ship to get over here."

There was an awkward pause after Weiss had finished speaking. Yang was not sure what to say. For the past few months, she was unsure if she would ever see Weiss or Blake again. Now, Weiss was here right in front of her, telling her that she risked her life to come find her and the rest of Team RWBY. She actually managed a small smile.

"Well, I guess I really can't be mad at you now."

"We need to get going" interjected Winter. "There is no tracking beacon on this ship, but Atlas military still may guess where we went. Do you have any idea where Blake or your sister went?"

"I know that Ruby was heading to Mystral with the rest of Team JNPR. I have no idea where Blake is."

"Have you heard from anyone in Vale? What about your father, would he have any information?"

"I haven't heard from anyone in Vale and my dad had to go on a mission a few days ago, so I wouldn't be able to ask him anyway."

"Do you know of a way we could get to the mainland? Our ship is too large to land over there and we would like to at least ask around over there and see if anyone knows anything about Blake or Ruby."

Yang beckoned both sisters to follow her as she turned and began walking quickly to her house.

"My dad has a boat and he left the keys. We can take that over to the safe zone in Vale. I don't know if you'd want me to come though, I'm not exactly in fighting condition" She pointed to the remnant of her arm again, but Weiss rebuked her.

"You could probably still take on more Grimm than half of our class even with one arm. Plus, you're talking to two girls who just stole an Atlas cruiser and lived to tell about it. If we can steal one of these, I'm sure we can get you a new arm!"

They arrived at the house just as Yang responded "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It may have to wait a little while, but we will figure something out" replied Winter reassuringly.

Yang nodded with a small smile and ducked into the house. After only a few minutes, she returned, dressed in her combat clothing, though with pants instead of shorts and only one gauntlet.

"OK, I'm ready" she said with as much courage as she could muster, showing the Schnees the key to the boat in her remaining hand.

"Great!" replied Weiss happily. "Let's get going!"


	11. Chapter 11

Note: The feels are definitely starting to become more prevalent in this chapter and it's only going to get worse for this particular arc so be warned. It won't be like this forever and I plan on continuing this for a while. I will continue to try to balance the edginess and feels by jumping around the different story arcs. Anyway, enjoy more of my crap writing.

Chapter 11:

"We need some more water. Can you go get some right now?"

"Yeah, of course." Jaune walked over to the bags, grabbed the two canteens and headed to the brook that was only about 100 feet away from their location. He saw the look of concern on Ruby's face and added a gentle "He's going to be OK" as he passed her. The problem was that he was not sure he believed his own words. Ren had been unconscious for at least 8 hours and had shown no signs at all of waking. He was still breathing steadily, but that was of little comfort in Team RNJR'S situation. Now, in the blackness of the early morning, even grabbing water from a nearby stream seemed slightly dangerous.

At the very least, Ren had a serious concussion and a deep gash in his abdomen. Jaune had managed to stitch that up quite expertly (another skill that he had surprised his friends with), but a fair amount of blood had been lost already and nobody could be sure of the extent of Ren's head injury. This would all be much easier if they were not out in the wilderness with no town or people to be seen. Jaune reflected on this predicament as he filled up the canteens in the stream. He supposed they would have to at least try and find someone to help Ren, but the silence was so deafening that it seemed hopeless that anyone was close enough.

Ruby had not believed Jaune's attempted words of comfort either. She sat on the forest floor next to Ren looking over him with deep concern in her eyes. She was becoming more worried by the minute. Jaune had stitched up his injury and prevented any further bleeding several hours ago, but there was no sign of consciousness from Ren. His head was not cut enough to require any stitches, but she supposed that this injury was what was keeping him asleep. She slumped back down beside him onto her back and looked up at the trees. They were difficult to see in the darkness of the night. This was her fault. She felt like such a failure as a team leader. If she had not been so reckless and aggressive during the fight, she would have noticed that Ren was in trouble and she would have been able to prevent this from happening.

Now the entire team was stuck in one place, trying to take care of Ren and not moving anywhere nearer to their goal. They had to get him help, but it seemed that there was nothing around them; nothing except the Grimm and possibly the White Fang. They would have to begin moving eventually, even if there was no village to bring Ren to. This area was not safe, even if they had not been attacked yet. Ruby decided that she would have to go out and search for a village. Even if it would be difficult to carry Ren, they had to at least try to get him some medical help.

At that moment, she heard footsteps nearby and immediately bolted upright. Seeing Jaune walking toward her made her feel relieved. This was another reason that she wanted to find a town - she was so sick of having to be suspicious of every sound around her. It had been like this throughout the entire journey and she wanted one night of actually restful sleep. Before she was able to voice her plan, Jaune spoke to her.

"Ruby, I think we need to go search for a town or village or something" he said, handing her one of the canteens and putting the other down by the packs.

"Really? Why do you think so?" She asked him. This was exactly what she wanted to tell him, but she still wanted to know his reasoning.

"Being alone out here is not going to do us any good. We can't help Ren any more than we already have. His breathing is fine, but who knows how badly he's been injured? I know it seems hopeless, but we have to at least try to look. What harm could it do?"

Ruby took a drink of water from the canteen before responding. "I was thinking the same thing. We don't have a choice. We have to at least look for a village. I don't think there's one around here, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to look. Plus, even if there isn't one, we can't stay here forever. The Grimm will come and if any White Fang members survived, they could send word and have reinforcements here soon. Plus, we're extremely vulnerable in this state. Our best bet is to keep moving, even if carrying him will make moving more difficult than before."

"Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that" responded Jaune sounding concerned. "But you're right. This means we really have no choice but to go scout out what's ahead. We have to plan this out though. We can't waist any of the time that we use."

Ruby was glad to hear him say this. She knew they had to be extremely efficient with their time.

"We have to leave someone to guard Ren. We can't leave him alone in the forest completely unconscious" she said as her first point.

"No, we can't" responded Jaune. "But who do we leave?"

They both thought about this for a few moments. Neither of them wanted to stay behind as both of them had had the idea to go look for a village. Finally, Jaune came up with what seemed like a fairly good solution.

"We'll leave Nora."

Ruby was happy to not hear her own name suggested as the one to stay, but she was not entirely convinced by this suggestion.

"Have you even seen her lately?"

"No, I haven't, but that's exactly why she can't go scouting. She is in no condition to take on a serious mission like this right now and you know she won't stay disciplined. If we want to have any chance of this search being successful, it has to be us two that go."

She was surprised by how much his logic made sense. She nodded in agreement as she wondered how exactly they should go about their search.

"We need to wait until dawn" she said confidently to Jaune.

"Why? Shouldn't we go now?" He responded. "I thought we needed to be as quick and efficient as possible."

"We do, but a Grimm attack is far more dangerous in the dark. We can't leave Nora to guard Ren all by herself in a situation like that. Plus, we're going to be searching for a town. We won't be able to see anything while it's still dark out."

"That's true…"

"We'll leave exactly at dawn and be back before the sun sets."

"That gives us a few hours to get some sleep. You go over to Ren and I'll tell Nora the plan."

Ruby nodded at Jaune as she headed back over to the spot where Ren was laying in his sleeping bag. Jaune headed over to where he had seen Nora walk off to after he had finish stitching up Ren's gash. He knew she was not far, but he was still quite nervous to go find her. She had not said a word since Ren had been hurt. He did not like this Nora. She was quite frightening.

He saw her bright orange hair propped up against the trunk of a large tree. She was facing away from where he had walked from and he decided quickly against trying to actually face her. Instead, he stopped within a few feet of her.

"Nora?" He asked in a timid voice. She did not respond. He had not expected her to, so he continued anyway. "Ruby and I are going to go look for a village to help Ren tomorrow at dawn. We're going to need you to watch Ren for the day until we get back, OK?"

He looked over at her nervously, hoping she would give a response. After several moments of suspenseful silence, she nodded slowly, still without making a sound.

"OK, thanks!" He said awkwardly. He waited for a few moments longer. He wanted to say something encouraging to her, but couldn't find any words. It did not seem as though anything he could say would be helpful to her anyway. He gave up on this idea and turned away. Nora did not call after him, but he did think he heard her sniffle as he walked back to Ruby.

"Do you think we'll actually find something?" Jaune asked Ruby nervously. They were both by the brook, filling up their canteens for the day's journey. The soft light of dawn was just barely creeping through the trees, marking their time to depart.

"I hope so" Said Ruby, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "Either way, we have to try." She stood up and put her canteen away as she walked back toward their camp.

"Well, if there is anything nearby, we'll find it!" Jaune responded as he caught up to her.

As they began their mission, they passed by Nora, who was sitting on the ground, simply staring at Ren. She made no indication that she heard them pass by and they both thought it best to not say anything to her. They walked for a few minutes in silence through the forest. Picking a path and climbing over fallen trees took away most of the need for talk. Ruby was making sure to guide herself and Jaune far away from the same spot that they had run into the forest. After what Nora had done, she doubted that any White Fang members would still be around if any of them survived, but she wanted to stay away from that area to be on the safe side.

Still, something was bothering Ruby. She did not like the way Nora was acting. She knew that Nora and Ren were extremely close and had been friends since childhood, but everything about Nora's reaction to Ren's injury was just disturbing. She did not feel entirely comfortable leaving her there. Once they made it to the edge of the forest, far away from their original entry point, she finally voiced her concern to Jaune.

"Do you think it's OK to leave her there with him?"

"Of course. There's nobody in the world that would fight harder to protect Ren."

"It's not him I'm worried about."

"I know." He looked over at Ruby and smiled. "Maybe this will finally wake her up and force her to tell him how she really feels."

"What do you mean?"

"You're kidding me" Jaune laughed, looking over at Ruby who was still sporting a slightly confused look on her face. "You mean you don't know that Nora is in love with Ren?"

Comprehension finally smacked Ruby right upside the head.

"Oh! That's why she's so upset!"

"Bingo" Jaune replied. He was grateful for his leader's naivety. It gave him his first smile since Ren had gotten hurt.

"Since when?" asked Ruby.

"No idea" answered Jaune as they continued walking along the edge of the forest, no people or buildings in sight. "But from what I can tell, probably a really long time."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, for starters, I actually thought they were a couple as soon as I met them. They're complete polar opposites and yet they get along and work so well together. They have the kind of relationship that you only read about in books. I guess it's just because they've been friends for so long, but from how close they are, I figured it was because they were actually a couple. They quickly denied it, but even I could tell that something was there. The way Nora acts toward him and the way she talks about him… I guess it was easier for me to notice because I was actually living with them, but it was pretty easy to see how crazy she is about him."

Ruby was surprised to hear all this, but after hearing what Jaune said, it made sense to her. Those two were extremely close, but she was surprised Jaune had noticed Nora's feelings for Ren so easily when he couldn't see Pyrrha's obvious feelings for him.

"Pyrrha and I would laugh about it all the time during our 1 on 1 training sessions on the roof" Jaune continued. "We joked about how long it would take for them to actually get together. Every time we got back from training we expected to find them making out on one of the beds." He smiled at this and Ruby couldn't help but smile back.

"Did you ever talk to her about it?" Ruby asked him.

"No, but Pyrrha did. She told me about it during one of our last training sessions before the Vytal Festival. She wouldn't tell me everything about it. I guess she was told to promise not to say anything, but she did tell me that Nora was definitely crazy for Ren and the only thing holding her back from telling him was that she didn't know if he felt the same way and that it made her worry they would lose their friendship."

"Well that's silly!" Ruby exclaimed. If you really feel that strongly about someone, you can't just keep it inside of you."

"I kind of don't blame her. I mean, you saw how expressing myself to Weiss worked out for me."

"That's different. You went about it all wrong. Plus, their so close to each other, there's no way he would blow her off." Ruby was working herself up into a frenzy over this and Jaune admired her passion for her friends. He smiled at her as she continued her rant. "I mean, what happens if she never says anything?! That would be terrible. That's way worse than telling someone and being denied. You can't wait to tell someone how you feel until it's too late. I don't want her to end up like Pyr-" She stopped abruptly, regretting immediately what she had said.

"I'm sorry, Jaune. I didn't mean to-"

"It's OK." Replied Jaune as positively as he could manage. "You're right. We don't want Nora to make that same mistake. I'll have a talk with her when we get back. It's for her own good. I just hope she didn't already wait too long."


	12. Chapter 12

NOTE: So the feels started a bit in the last chapter, but they're even worse in this chapter. I hope some people are cool with it. I think this kind of fluff is actually important, but if you don't think like me, hopefully you will appreciate that I balanced this chapter out and will continue to do my best to balance out the story in general. Also, thanks to everyone who has followed, favorited, and/or reviewed so far or even just read all of the chapters! I really appreciate it

Chapter 12:

"Hey Ren, are you awake yet?" Nora asked as she was lying on the ground, staring up into the trees in the cool air of the early afternoon. She sat up and looked over at her partner and best friend who was still unconscious and sighed to herself. "I didn't think so."

She stood up and looked around at her surroundings, partly to check for Grimm and partly to check to see if Ruby and Jaune had come back yet. After looking and listening and finding only trees and silence, respectively, she let out another sigh and plopped back down on the ground in defeat. She laid back down and began staring up the sky again, hoping that somehow time would suddenly decide to speed up so she could go back to her corner of the forest and try to fall asleep again.

Nora felt so uncomfortable like this. She hated herself for wanting to stay away from Ren, even though he was hurt; even though he had been by her side since either of them could remember. It wasn't that she did not want to be there for him. She was the one who had wiped out the Grimm and White Fang that had hurt him. She was the one who had insisted that Jaune stitch up his side immediately, despite his nervousness. She was the one who had put him in her own sleeping bag to make sure he did not get too cold, fighting to stay alive. Now that there was nothing left to do, she couldn't stand to be near him. Her reflexes had been too slow. She hadn't killed the Ursa in time. The guilt along with all her other emotions regarding him were eating her up inside. To keep her brain from devolving completely, she did what she always did to make herself feel better: talk to Ren.

"Do you remember when we used to play by the river when we were young? It was always my favorite place to go with you. Our parents always said it was too dangerous because the current was too strong and there was never anyone else around to save us if we fell in. I think that's what I liked best about it. It was the one place where we could go to be alone, just the two of us." Nora took a deep breathe, trying to calm herself before she continued.

"I loved jumping around on the rocks, swinging on the tree branches, and making fun of you for telling me to be more careful and stay away from the current. You've always been so cautious and level-headed. I never used to appreciate that about you. I just thought you were acting like an overprotective mother!" She managed a small laugh as she said this.

"Then came the day that the branch broke and I fell in. I thought I was going to die that day, but you saved me. You actually jumped in and saved me. To this day I still don't know how you did it. You didn't even know how to swim yet, but you jumped in without a moment of hesitation and you got me out of there." Nora continued to stare up into the trees, which were beginning to look slightly wet and unclear. "That was the first time you saved my life.

I can't even count the amount of times you've saved me since then. In fact, I'm not sure if I've ever really thanked you properly for all the times you did save my life or even acknowledged everything you've done for me. I just sort of figured you knew... you know? But you don't. You have no idea how much you've done for me, no idea how much I appreciate it, and no idea how much I care about you and how much I need you."

She looked over at Ren again and pleaded with him.

"Don't die on me, Ren. _Please._ I don't know what I would do without you and I'd never forgive myself for letting you down. Yesterday was the first time I really had a chance to save you and I blew it! I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me most. I'm sorry I didn't take care of you or help you the way you've helped me. I need you to save me one last time, though. I need you to pull through for me because if you go, I... I don't think I'll make it."

It was a few minutes before Nora spoke again.

"Do you remember the day we left for Beacon? I was late and you kept asking me where I was, but I wouldn't tell you. Well, that morning, I went back to the tree that I was climbing on when I fell into the river and I wrote our names together in a heart. Ever since then I've dreamed of the day that I bring you back there and show you what I wrote. I want to see you smile the way I did when I wrote it." Nora sniffed again and wiped away the tears from her eyes as her voice broke. "But I'm scared, Ren. I'm scared that if I take you back there, you won't like what I wrote. You'll look at me like I'm an idiot who sees something between us that just isn't there! Then I won't even have you as a best friend anymore. I won't have anyone at all."

She leaned forward and put her head in her hands, unable to control her crying. "And who am I supposed to tell all this to?" She asked, becoming more hysterical. " Whenever I've been sad about anything, I tell you and you always make it better. I mean, look at me now! I'm still telling you my problems, even though you can't hear me! But if... I mean _when_ you do wake up, this might be the one thing you won't be able to make better."

The freezing air beat against Qrow's cape, causing it to flap loudly behind him. From his perch on top of the snowy hill, he surveyed the land below him. Despite the wind, the view was very clear and he could see quite far in front of him. The White Fang camp was larger than he had expected, based on how large the one near Vale was. This troubled him. It meant that their numbers were growing. He wasn't exactly surprised by this, especially after what had happened in the past several months, but that didn't make him feel any better about it.

Deciding to finally take a closer look, Qrow turned around and headed down the back side of the hill that he had just come up. After checking to make sure nobody was around, he transformed into a crow and flew up into the turbulence. Controlling himself in this weather was difficult, but he did manage to steer himself toward the White Fang camp. As he flew closer, he rose higher into the freezing sky, hoping that he would be able to collect as much information as possible without anyone noticing him at all. It was doubtful that any member of the White Fang knew of his disguise, but even so, he did not want to draw any unnecessary attention to himself.

The good news was that because of the fact that the surrounding area was such a barren, icy landscape, there was really no place for the White Fang to hide. Certainly, it had taken Qrow quite a while to find this location, at least by his standards. After leaving Team RNJR and flying north to Atlas, it had taken him an entire day to find their relatively remote hideout. However, now that he had found it, it was quote easy to see. There were no trees, rocks, or any major geographical features to hide behind.

While this did make them very easy to see, the bad news was that it also made Qrow just as easy to see. This was fine if he simply circled above them, but unfortunately, there was not much to notice from this vantage point. His enemy was actually being quite practical and cautious. As he circled, he noticed that very few men stayed outside of the tents for long and there were no weapons, tools, vehicles, or anything else to see outside of the tents aside from a couple of stolen bullheads.

It was no good. He would have to go in for a closer look. He guessed from the beginning that he would have to, especially if he wanted to hear anything that they were saying. He took advantage of the fact that not many people were outside of the tents and headed downward, landing on top of the largest tent. He heard voices emanating from inside and he consequently decided to hop down to the ground and see if he could sneak inside in order to hear better. As cautiously as he could, he poked his beak underneath the flap of the tent, and stuck his head in. He immediately pulled it back out, having poked his head into a very open area of what looked like a decently large planning and meeting room.

Fortunately, he did notice a desk with some drawers in the back left corner of the tent. He hopped over there and was able to sneak underneath and behind the desk with ease. As he hid, he noticed that there were 5 White Fang members huddled around the large map near the desk. Qrow had no idea who 3 of them were, but he assumed that they were fairly important because the other two were a high ranking and startlingly large Lieutenant an Adam Taurus.

"... and we'll be getting more reinforcements from Mystral by tomorrow morning" Qrow heard one of the men say.

"Perfect" replied Adam. "We can add their number to our forces attacking the Schnee compound. Perry, could your unit use more men? What about you, Lieutenant? Your two squads will be leading this attack so we need to make sure they are at full strength."

"I could use about 5 more bodies" replied Perry nonchalantly. "I'm pretty good as is."

"Give the rest to me" added the gravelly voice of the Lieutenant. "The soldiers in my squad are weak. I need more numbers if we're going to storm the front gate."

Adam waited a few moments before answering. "Fine, but Perry gets to choose the 5 that he wants when they arrive. His squad will probably be the one that actually gets into the house because they'll be going through the back, so I want him to have the best of what we have. That will give us the best chance of capturing Schnee."

"I thought we weren't actually going for him" piped up an unfamiliar voice.

"We weren't, idiot. The plan changed when his daughters left" answered another voice.

"It doesn't matter anyway" said Adam, annoyed. If Perry and his squad can actually capture Schnee it's just icing on the cake. My team and I are going after the real target. Without their precious dust factory, the Schnee Company and the entire Atlas military will be crippled and shown to be weak and pathetic. This, coupled with the propaganda were spreading will cause Vacuo and Mystral to rise up against Atlas for their previous transgressions. It's almost too easy" he finished, laughing a small, cold laugh. 

"Are you sure you have enough men to destroy the factory, Sir? If I came with you, I'm sure it would be easier" said the Lieutenant. 

"No, you're exactly where you need to be. You'll make the attack look much more credible and they'll have to put far more effort into defending the Schnees. Besides. I've got a little secret weapon that will ensure we have no trouble taking the factory."  
There was some laughter and grunts of agreement from the men. 

"So we're clear then? We move out at 2300 hours tomorrow night. You are all dismissed." 

Footsteps began moving toward the door and crow did not waste a second. He jumped out from behind the desk and underneath the tent before Adam could make his way to the desk. He pumped his wings with all of his strength and flew as fast as he could into the freezing wind. He had no time to waste. Knowing them well enough, Ironwood and Schnee would take a lot of convincing to believe this startling discovery.


	13. Chapter 13

NOTE: Sorry for the slightly delayed upload this time. I put no feels in this one to try to give everyone a relief from the last one, but they'll be back soon :P Thanks again to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favorited! I do appreciate it.

Chapter 13:

It took Qrow 2 hours to reach Atlas Academy flying into the wind. He had to concentrate so hard on flying that the only thing he had figured out in regard to how to convince anyone of what he heard was that he would go to Ironwood first. The two of them did not agree on much, but there was at least some sort of mutual respect between them. Not only that, but Qrow had only met Jacque Schnee once and it had taken 5 seconds for him to become his least favorite person in the entire world. With his limited time, he knew he had a much better chance of convincing Ironwood first. 

Flying over the school, it was clear that local security had been ramped up in a major way. Even by Atlas standards, the place looked like a fortress. There were dozens of soldiers and even a few paladins surrounding the area along with a couple of cruisers hovering above the campus. If it weren't for the fact that he was currently in the form of a bird, it would have been next to impossible for Qrow to actually get into the school and talk to Ironwood, even with his status as the de facto headmaster of Beacon.

Arguing with the military would have been like arguing with a brick wall, but instead he simply flew to the back of the school where the headmaster's office was, landed on top of the building, and transformed back into his human form. He then walked over to the side of the tower on top of the building he was on, scanned his hand and eye, punched in the passcode, and waited as several thick and complicated doors opened to let him in.

Wasting no time once inside, Qrow ran up to the elevator and punched the button for the top floor. He was only mildly surprised to find 2 soldiers waiting inside the elevator when it opened. One of the two raised his gun to Qrow and yelled 

"Halt! Who are you and what are you doing here?" 

"Oh shut up Emmond!" Responded the other one, pushing his partner's gun down and away from Qrow. "Don't you know who that's Qrow Branwen? If he's here, it's obviously important and we need to get him to the General right away."

"Thanks, Ryker" said Qrow gruffly as he walked into the elevator. "I'm glad you're here. I can't recognize any of you with those ridiculous helmets on." 

"Yeah, I'm not even sure why they make us wear them inside. All they do is make it difficult to see and aim properly." 

The door closed and Ryker pushed the top button on the elevator to take them to Ironwood's office. Emmond was silent and appeared to still be fuming about not being allowed to arrest or shoot Qrow. Ryker, on the other hand, was quite excited over the whole situation. 

"So Qrow" he began, attempting to sound calm. "Whatcha doin' here? Got something to tell Ironwood? Spill the dust, man" 

"You know I'd like to tell you, but I don't trust this other guy here" he responded, gesturing toward Emmond, who did not move a muscle. Either way, I'm sure you'll find out about it soon anyway. I wouldn't have come if it wasn't urgent." 

They came to a halt at the top and the door slid open as Qrow walked out.

"Good to see you again, Ryker. _Nice to meet you, Emmond"_ said Qrow in a fake flirtatious voice as the door to the elevator closed.

Unlike Ozpin's office, Ironwood's had rather more security. In addition to the guards stationed in the elevator, there were some very heavy duty doors separating his office from the elevator. Qrow walked up to them and clicked the voice communication button.

"James. It's Qrow. We need to talk. Now."

He stood back and waited for the doors to open. After a few moments, Qrow became impatient and pressed the button again. Speaking more angrily this time.

"I'm not kidding, James. You need to hear what I have to say!"

He stood back and began tapping his foot impatiently. He waited even less time this round before pressing the button again. He had not just spent the past couple of days flying and infiltrating the White Fang to be ignored by Ironwood.

"Listen, _General,_ unless you want your kingdom blown up by the White Fang, you need to let me in there. You know I could get in there the hard way if I wanted to."

Threatening to break in was obviously enough to pique Ironwood's curiosity. The doors finally slid open and Qrow hurried in. He walked forward toward the desk while having a look around. It had been quite some time since he had been here. The office was impressively large, but it lacked the esoteric charm that Ozpin's had. It was large, rectangular, and silver. A couple of bland portraits adorned the walls, but no books. The only detail that was even slightly interesting was the fact that there were several clocks displaying the different times in each kingdom. As with anything involving Ironwood, the office was simple, cold, and clinical. It made Qrow uncomfortable.

He took a drink from his flask, realizing part of the way through that he had finished all of his whisky and the flask was completely empty. As the doors closed, the General made his displeasure with Qrow obvious from his desk chair.

"Is this actually important Qrow? I have a lot to deal with right now. The White Fang have been wreaking havoc on my kingdom and Jacques Schnee has not given me a moment's peace since his daughters stole one of my cruisers and ran off to who knows where. It doesn't help that Winter was one of my top Specialists. So unless you have a way to fix either of those problems, I'd prefer it if you would just leave."

"Well, I I'm not surprised that Schnee's daughters didn't want to spend more time with him. If I were his kid, I think I'd have shot him years ago" he said, chuckling to himself. "But my news actually involves both of the current thorns in your side."

Ironwood looked quite skeptical, but said "I'm listening."

"Who have the White Fang been targeting since the fall of Beacon and who's been leading them?"

Ironwood looked even more aggravated than before. "I thought you were here to give me answers, not pester me with questions."

"I am" responded Qrow, taking another drink from his flask, realizing again that it was empty. "I just need to confirm my suspicions."

"Fine. They've been attacking all over Atlas with sporadic success, but they have killed over 50 people, some of them important members of the military. They've spent most of their time attacking the school and the Schnee compound. We actually thought they had kidnapped Jacques' daughters until the guards at the prison reported that the girls were acting of their own accord." He looked over at Qrow, looking quite distressed at this point. "They've been silent for a couple of weeks now. It's the longest they've gone without an attack. I know it means they're planning something."

"They are" responded Qrow sternly. "Lucky for you, I know what they're up to." He stood up and began pacing the room while explaining, feeling much more comfortable after noticing how much Ironwood needed his help. "How much damage have they done to the Schnees?"

Ironwood appeared puzzled by this query.

"To the actual property? Quite a bit of damage, but fortunately my men have been successful in protecting the family."

"Right, right. Good for you, General. Has anyone been leading these attacks?"

"From what we have seen, their leader here is a giant man who wields a chainsaw. In fact, he not only gives out orders, but has also killed the largest number of soldiers in combat."

"Has he lead all of the attacks?"

"All of the major ones. Any smaller activity or bomb detonation has not had a leader identified."

Qrow nodded, taking all of the information in. It was exactly as he had thought.

"And where have they attacked other than the Schnee compound?"

"Parks, the city center, schools, and the homes and meeting places of important military officials."

"Basically, anywhere populated or where there are important people."

"Exactly. Look, are you going anywhere with thi-"

"Yes I am, thank you for asking."

Ironwood looked livid at being interrupted.

"They haven't gone after the dust factory or any of the cargo trains. They seem to mostly be focusing on important military members or anything public.

"And don't you think that's odd?" Retorted Qrow. "Wake up, James. They're trying to throw you off the scent and it's worked. They know they can't take out your entire military on their own, but they can weaken it enough to allow other kingdoms to do that work for them; Kingdoms that saw what your army did in Vale."

"But we didn't-"

"I know you didn't, but Vacuo and Mistral don't know that. You know that the Schnee Company is largely responsible for the condition that Vacuo is in. Do you really think they need much motivation? Most of their citizens see that factory that the idiot Jacques built in their Kingdom, stealing their dust every day and you think they wouldn't take the opportunity to take back what's theirs?"

Ironwood looked as though he would argue, but caught himself and instead leaned back in his chair with his hand on his chin, deep in thought as Qrow continued.

"They're trying to make it look as though it's all personal, short sighted vendetta when they actually have a much larger picture in mind. I'm actually quite impressed. They could only be doing this with her guidance."

"So what is their actual target?" Asked Ironwood finally.

"They want you to think that it's the Schnee compound. They've been attacking it for months and tomorrow night, they're launching what's probably going to be their biggest one yet. Their numbers seem to be growing and they're receiving more reinforcements tomorrow as well. The guy that you think is in charge will be leading the attack to make it look credible and to really sell it, they're including a little trick within that attack. However, the real leader is going after the real target."

Ironwood raised his eyebrows slightly, betraying to Qrow his captivation.

"Adam Taurus is taking a small force and some 'secret weapon' to the Schnee factory to blow the place to kingdom come" he said dramatically, knowing Ironwood was hanging on his every word.

"But they wouldn't do that" replied Ironwood, clearly struggling for some sort of evidence to disprove Qrow. "They haven't shown any interest in taking out something major like that."

"I know. They're being smart about it. They've laid the bate and bided their time, knowing full well that simply storming that factory would only get them all killed. Be honest though, General. How many of the guards normally placed at the factory are now guarding the Schnee compound or some military leader's home?"

"...about half" said a defeated Ironwood.

"Exactly. Don't beat yourself up though, James. I probably would have done something similar and for all we know, they could have just been waiting for their secret weapon. The point is that we know what our enemy is actually planning so we can twist their own plan against them!"

"True" responded Ironwood. "I will send all available troops to guard the factory immediately."

Qrow rounded on him angrily.

"How thick are you?! If you do that, they'll know something's wrong and they'll back off. They think that they have the element of surprise when in reality, we do. Let's use that to our advantage."

"You think you have a better strategy?"

"As a matter of fact, I do, General"

Ironwood was not thrilled by Qrow's continued mockery of him, but he could not deny the importance of his information. As much as he disliked him personally, he had never known the drunkard to actually lie which meant that this news was undoubtedly true. He took a deep breath and readied himself to deal with Qrow for the next couple of days.

"Fine. I will call the other military leaders in and we can figure out a strategy together."

"Sounds good to me, but do you mind topping me off first?" asked Qrow, holding out his empty flask.


	14. Chapter 14

"Do you know exactly where the safe zone is?"

"Apparently it's right next to the docks, so we shouldn't have any trouble finding it" replied Yang as she impressively managed to pull the engine to life with only one hand. They set off with Winter at the controls as she had been while in the Atlas Cruiser.

"I assume it is the area with all of the lights on" she said to Yang.

"Must be" she replied "but I'm not really quite sure why you guys wanna go there. I already told you that Ruby ran off to Mistral and Blake is... who knows where." She finished the last words with a subtle, yet obvious note of anger in her voice. Winter gave Weiss a confused look, but Weiss knew exactly how Yang felt so she decided to ignore her tone and simply answer her point.

"We know we won't find the rest of our team there, but we may find a clue about where they are. Pretty much everyone in Vale is there, right? Someone must have heard something about our teammates. Plus, it'll be nice to see some of our other classmates and teachers again." She gave Yang a reassuring smile. After finding Yang so easily and her not wanting to kill her for going home with her dad, she was feeling quite pleased so far, especially considering she thought she would probably die trying to leave Atlas. Her recent success made her excited rather than ashamed to see her former classmates and teachers again

Yang, on the other hand, was not so confident. She was not even sure she wanted to be on this journey with Weiss. She was happy to see her, but she was still quite frightened to have to face the world without her arm. She had no desire to see Blake at all and she only went with Weiss because she felt guilty over not protecting her sister and also secretly hoped that such a well-connected family could help her get a new arm.

As they approached the dock, Winter decided to take more charge and brief her two companions on what they ought to do.

"From what I know, the stronghold is quite cramped and being guarded heavily by what remains of Vale's police, military, huntsmen, and students from Beacon. I believe that Glynda Goodwitch is in charge."

"Yeah, my dad said that Glynda was the leader as well. He said she's really had to rely on the students to help guard the borders" added Yang.

"Indeed" replied Winter. "While we can hope that students or teachers who know you are guarding the docks at this time, we must assume that it will be police or military in that position which means that we must be extremely cautious and calm. If they attempt to take us prisoner, do not protest. We must be diplomatic in this situation."

As she finished, Weiss and Yang noticed that she had slowed the speed of the boat and moved in to dock. Before they could get out and tie the boat up, a spotlight was on them and a loud, angry voice shouted "Stop right there! Identify yourselves or we open fire immediately."

Quite a few footsteps were heard and several heavily armed soldiers were soon standing on the dock, pointing their gun barrels at the three girls still in the puny boat. As pathetic as they looked, they knew that they could easily dispatch all the soldiers in short order, but they remained calm and did not speak until addressed.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Asked the closest soldier angrily

"We're here to look for the other members of my team" piped up Weiss before Winter could answer for her.

"What team?" Replied the soldier with a note of confusion added to his anger

"Team RWBY, of course! I am Weiss Schnee. This is my teammate Yang Xiao Long and my sister Winter, an Atlas Specialist."

The soldier's look of comprehension was unmistakable even with the low light of the docks. He didn't speak for several moments. Instead, he peered closer at the girls in a rather uncomfortable way, looking at Weiss and then looking even more intently at Yang. The other soldiers had heard the names as well and immediately lowered their weapons, also looking into the boat the way many people looked at Pyrrha.

"Right" said a second soldier, finding himself before the others did. "We do know who you are. We… um… apologize for pointing our guns at you. We just can't be too careful."

"That's quite alright" said Winter calmly "We did not mean to cause trouble. We just wanted to find the rest of my sister's team and I was unable to land my ship on the mainland."

"Was that you?" asked the first soldier. "We were confused because we weren't expecting any Atlas aid this week."

"We were just hoping they might be here or perhaps someone may know where the rest of my team is" interrupted Weiss impatiently. "Their names are Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna."

"Yeah I don't think either of them are here and we would definitely know if they were. We all know who the members of Team RWBY are" said yet another soldier, looking at Yang closely again.

Yang was feeling quite uncomfortable at this point and even Weiss and Winter were beginning to wonder what was going on. A fourth soldier seemed to notice as well and spoke up.

"We can take you to see Professor Goodwitch. She and the other professors may be able to help you."

"We would appreciate that very much, thank you" replied Winter

The soldiers put down their weapons and reached out to help the Schnee sisters and Yang onto the dock.

"Azure and I will take you" said the first soldier, nodding toward the fourth one who spoke.

After picking up their weapons, the two soldiers beckoned for the girls to follow them and lead them away from the docks and toward the safe zone of Vale.

Everyone remained silent as they walked. Winter, Weiss, and Blake were rather shocked at how empty the place seemed. It felt quite eary to them. As if noticing this, the first soldier finally spoke up again as they turned down toward the dust store that hid the headquarters.

"We are on full lockdown tonight" he told the girls. "You may not be able to speak with Professor Goodwitch immediately, but I am sure she will want to speak with you as soon as she is able."

"What's going on tonight?" Asked Weiss quickly.

"We're not actually sure" said the other guard failing to hide the disappointment in his voice. "We were off duty sleeping when we got the call to go guard the docks. All we were told was that all soldiers and police were to be on immediate guard duty because all the teachers, huntsmen, and students would be on high alert and on a code 5 mission."

"Code 5 is the highest priority, so we don't question it" said the first soldier clearly trying to sound important.

"Right" replied Azure "and of course they only tell students and huntsmen what's actually going on with those missions. I'm sure you can ask them, though." He pointed at the two people guarding the entrance to a dust shop before stopping in their tracks.

"We need to get back to our post. We really shouldn't have left the others in the first place."

The two guards turned quickly around and hurried back toward the docks.

"That was weird" said Weiss.

"You don't need to tell me" added Yang, holding her stump consciously with her left arm. "I didn't need them staring at me like that."

"Let's just get inside" said Weiss, nodding in agreement as they all walked closer to the guards in front of the door. "These guys better let us in. I hope they aren't as weird as- oh GREAT!"

Weiss and her companions had gotten close enough to recognize Cardin Winchester and his teammate Dove standing guard in front of the entrance that they were supposed to go through.

"Well if it isn't the rest of Team RWBY. Well, almost" began the man with the mace.

"Spare us, you ignorant meathead" answered Weiss with deep anger in her voice. "You're the second to last person in the world that I want to talk to right now, and I just risked my sister's and my lives, stole a ship, and attacked my own country's military several hours ago to get away from number 1on that list so you really don't want to know what I will do to you if you don't let us into Glynda's office or whatever the hell this dust shop is right this second."

"Wait, what did he mean by 'the rest?'" Put forth Winter.

"Well, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was going to say that I was surprised to see these two considering that the other one didn't mention them at all."

"Which other one?!" Demanded Yang. She was unsure whether to be excited or distrustful over this information, but she was curious nonetheless.

"The black-haired one, Blake. She's the reason Glynda's not hear right now. She came in here a few hours ago, apparently with some plan to capture the psychopath who caused all this mess."

"What?!" Yelled Weiss and Yang together.

"Where is she now?" Inquired winter, maintaining her composure

Cardin shrugged and swung his mace onto his shoulder. "Out with Team CFVY getting that Cinder person. Everyone else is hear preparing to fight anyone who tries to stop us taking her in. I'd ask you for help, but it looks like you wouldn't be able to do much anyway."

Weiss gasped and looked back at Yang, expecting her to fly at Cardin in a rage or fire back a witty retort. Instead, her teammate just hung her head and said nothing.

"Listen" said Winter to Cardin, trying to remedy the situation. "We believe we can be of assistance. Tell me, is Professor Goodwitch nearby? We will ask her what she would like us to do."

"She's out in front. Go back the way you came, take a right, then your second left, third right, and then another right at the very end of that street and you should find her at the front gate. But don't tell her I told you. You're all more of a liability than help anyway."

Without another word, Winter and Weiss turned around and swiftly began walking with the former grabbing the still stationary Yang as they went. She practically had to drag her along as they hustled down the route Cardin had given them. Weiss was very concerned. Yang had never acted like this before. She could barely move, was not speaking, and tears were streaming down her face. Weiss reflected on the fact that Yang could hardly have picked a less opportune time to have her break down.

Under normal circumstances, she would have gladly taken the time to comfort her and figure out exactly what was wrong, but with the new information they had just received, there was no time for this. As she walked down the last empty street before the entrance, she realized that perhaps it was this news that had Yang so upset and not just Cardin's crass comment. She slowed her pace to a stop, realizing she had no choice but to get to the bottom of this now.

"Wait!" She called out to Winter who was still half dragging Yang behind her.

"What could you possibly need, Weiss?" Asked Winter as she halted.

"Yang, what's wrong?" She asked with as much care in her voice as she could muster. Winter glared at her from behind Yang, but Weiss continued anyway. "I know those guards were staring at you and Cardin was a jerk as usual, but you can't let any of that bother you" she said this knowing that this was not really what was bothering her, hoping it would help reveal the real issue.

Yang looked up as if to give an answer, but the moment she looked forward, her eyes flashed wide open and she turn around and ran back the way they came. Even more shocked, Weiss turned to see what had frightened Yang so much. Walking toward her, along with Glynda, Team CFVY, and an unconscious, dark haired woman was Blake Belladona.


End file.
